Prowl
by withfireandblood
Summary: The Mikaelson family had a saying. "Love beyond family is the greatest weakness. We do not feel and we do not care." It was a code he lived by. So why did he save the girl? Klaus / Caroline.
1. Chapter 1

**"It never troubles the wolf how many the sheep may be" - Virgil **

* * *

Caroline was on the phone as she walked briskly though the airport. She had to hurry to catch the flight. She had spent hours fussing over what to wear, fixing her hair, doing her makeup only to wash her face and start over. Everything had to be perfect.

"Bonnie, you're a life saver." Caroline spoke into the phone tucked against her shoulder. "This is seriously amazing."

"One of the few perks of working for an airline." Bonnie responded. "It took a while, but I finally managed to find two flights almost in your price range a week apart, and with my employee discount, it's not so bad at all."

"Seriously, you have no idea how much I owe you for this. It's been eight months since I've seen Tyler, and there's no way I could have afforded this trip without you."

"No problem, I'm happy to help. I can't believe it's been that long since you've seen him!"

"I know, right! And he has another year of the program in South Africa before he can come back. I can't wait to see the look on his face when I show up. He's going to flip."

"He doesn't know you're coming?"

"I wanted to surprise him." Caroline said. "I know his schedule and I have the address for his apartment, so I figured I'd just show up, give him the shock of his life."

"And then the something else of his life." Bonnie smirked.

"Oh, god, yes." Caroline giggled. "It's been wayyyyy too long."

**Now boarding all rows, flight 1856 to Johannesburg**

"Oops, time to go." Caroline said.

"Call me when you land. And have fun!" Bonnie replied.

* * *

The metal bars surrounding the cell at the center of the station seemed to radiate some kind of repellent, because the otherwise relaxed officers of this station stayed as far away as possible, changing their routes across the room to avoid being anywhere near it. The man in the cell was someone they had only heard whispers about and the way he looked at them was something even the most senior officers had never experienced before. They were all on edge.

He looked about thirty, but he held himself with the authority of someone much older. Even now, dripping with blood and bruised up, he looked regal. He sat in the middle of his cage, head held high, looking out at the officers scurrying around as if he was holding court.

He had been knocked unconscious by a falling beam in the warehouse he was torturing his victims in. Had it not been for his incredible bad luck, the men under him selling him out in exchange for lucrative amounts of money and feeble offers of protection and status, the helicopter Kol was coming in on being late, the beam falling just as the swat team swarmed in, none of this would have happened. If plan A, B, or C went according to plan, he wouldn't be here. His plan was artistic, beautiful. The swat team was expected to rush in just as he left he building in a helicopter, the bombs would kill them all, along with the men who betrayed him, he would watch it all unfold from the sky.

If it wasn't for that lousy beam falling on him, it would have been perfect. If it wasn't for Kol's tardiness, he wouldn't have been standing under that beam at the moment. At least he managed to kill most of them by triggering the bombs as they dragged him out of the building. It really was their mistake for not checking his pockets for a detonator before dragging him to the patrol car. If he wasn't so delirious from the concussion, he probably would have managed to kill a few more of them.

The officers chattered nervously, aware that he could hear every word. It didn't matter, the chief assured them, Niklaus Mikaelson would never see the light of day again.

"Call the commissioner, we might have to extradite him to the U.S."

"He's a British national, won't that affect the extradition?"

"He might be British, but the crimes he was pinned to are mostly American. The Canadians might want him too, but there are way more charges in the States."

"They've got several guys we want to stand trial over here, we need this trade with the States."

"Won't the Brits be up in arms over it? Should we put in a call to their consulate?"

"They don't want to claim him, he isn't some ordinary citizen. They're not rushing to defend this guy."

"Just call the commissioner. Catching him is enough of a feather in my hat. I don't want to keep him here. Let's make the trade, there are guys running free over there I want to see behind bars."

* * *

The commissioner jolted up in bed when his phone rang in the middle of the night.

"Sir. There's a situation. You're needed at the station immediately."

"What?" He grumbled.

"We got him, sir. I can't believe it. We captured Mikaelson."

"Which one?" The commissioner hissed, unwilling to celebrate until it was confirmed. He was certain they were referring to Kol Mikaelson. He had been running wild for years, always narrowly escaping capture. Rebekah was the youngest, but Kol was the most reckless. If another of them were ever to be caught, it would certainly be Kol. There were whispers that Elijah and Niklaus had something to do with Kol's incredible luck, always swooping in and causing a distraction just as the police were closing in on him, giving him a chance to escape. His older brothers had never been caught, but they were wanted in several countries.

"Niklaus. We got Niklaus Mikaelson."

The Commissioner was sure he heard wrong. There was no way. One of the world's most infamous and elusive criminals couldn't possibly be sitting in his station. Rumor had it Niklaus was far worse than any of the other Mikaelsons. Finn was serving five consecutive life sentences and he was a saint compared to Niklaus, Esther "The Black Widow" Mikaelson's bastard son. They called him The Wolf. There were whispers that some of his victims looked like they had been attacked by an animal, with three long cuts slicing across them, like a wolf's claw.

The Black Widow had the distinction of being the only woman in recent history to be the head of a major organized crime family. She had taken over when her husband Mikael died under mysterious circumstances. Some people were convinced that she killed him herself, while others whispered that she set The Wolf on him. Her bastard son, her prized possession, the child she flaunted to torment her husband. She had trained all her children well, and while Finn's arrest and quick transport to an impossible to break maximum security prison had been a disappointment that shamed her, she vowed to never again let the police take one of her children.

The Commissioner's head was swimming with thoughts of her. She was dangerously beautiful, even in her 50's, and her pack of children were now all grown up and deadlier than ever. They had been picking off every cop, lawyer, judge and jury member that had anything to do with Finn's arrest. Security guards who worked in his wing of the prison would disappear and wash up on the beaches a week later. It was a warning, a reminded that they hadn't forgotten, that they vowed to free him. Not even the international witness protection program could help the poor souls who dared to cross The Black Widow and her children.

"Say that again?" He hissed into the phone.

"Niklaus Mikaelson. He's in our custody."

"You're saying..." He started, convinced it was all a dream.

"Sir, we have The Wolf in a cage."

"I'm on my way." The Commissioner said, scurrying out of bed and across the room to grab his gun and badge.

* * *

Caroline took a deep breath and double checked the address. She was on the second floor of a busy apartment building, only a short walk from the campus where his program was. She looked at the number on the paper, confirming it was the right door. So this was the place she had send all those letters and care packages to. He would probably have hung up all those photos she sent the of the two of them together before he left. She imagined him looking at them when he missed her, just like she did when she thought of him. She held her breath, excited to see the look on his face when he opened the door. This was it. She knocked.

She heard the lock click as someone came to the door, and she straightened up, smoothing out her hair and putting on her best smile. Tyler would be floored.

She was confused when a pretty brunette opened the door. She was wearing a man's shirt and not much else. Had she gotten the wrong apartment?

"You're not my chinese food." The girl said, looking Caroline up and down.

"I'm sorry, I must have the wrong place, I'm looking for-" She started, but a shout from the other room cut her off.

"Hayley, get back in bed!"

Caroline immediately recognized the voice. A sick feeling hit her in the pit of her stomach. She wanted to run away but instead she charged past the girl and into the apartment. She came face to face with a very naked Tyler, who looked like he had seen a ghost.

"Surprise." Caroline said weekly, tears beginning to form.

"Care, I can explain." He started.

"Seriously? Don't bother."

"No, wait. Caroline!" He shouted.

"What? What could you possibly have to say to me, Tyler?"

"This isn't..."

"Are you really going to try to deny it? Give me some credit. I'm not stupid enough to believe any lie you could come up with."

He just looked down.

"How long has this been going on?" She asked.

He shook his head. "Care, don't. I can't."

"How long?"

He looked at the girl who was shifting uncomfortably in the doorway to the bedroom, trying to cover up a bit. Caroline expected the other girl to fly into a rage along with her, berate him for lying to her as well. She looked more guilty than upset. She must have know he had a girlfriend the whole time.

"How long, Tyler?"

"Hayley and I knew each other from classes a few years ago. We met the first week I was here, it was nice to have someone familiar around."

"You never mentioned her to me. You never told me you found an old friend here."

"It started pretty soon after that."

She shook her head, disgusted.

"I'm sorry, Care. Hayley and I both have people back home. We figured it wouldn't hurt anyone if they didn't know. We were going to stop once we both went back home."

"Do you hear what you're saying, Tyler? How can you even attempt to justify this?"

"I'm sorry! I never meant for you to get hurt. It wasn't supposed to be this way."

She glared at him. "Just so you know, I never cheated on you. I was going to wait for you the whole two years you were over here. At least now I don't have to spent the next year being lied to."

She started to walk away.

"Care, wait! We can fix this!"

"Goodbye, Tyler."

She marched back out the door, not wanting him to see her break down. She wouldn't let him have the satisfaction. He didn't deserve to see how much he could hurt her. She grabbed her suitcase and got as far away as her legs could carry her. When she couldn't walk anymore she found a bench to sit on and called Bonnie.

* * *

The commissioner slipped a wireless phone through the bars. The man in the cell slowly walked towards it, crouching to pick it up. Niklaus Mikaelson looked astonishingly young for someone with such a long rap sheet. He couldn't be a day over thirty, and well, he had killed a lot more than thirty people. It wasn't just murder either, he was a renaissance man of a criminal, a little of everything, an expert at it all.

The commissioner tried not to shiver or let his fear and repulsion show. Thirty five years on this job and he had never come face to face with a purer form of evil. Criminals like Niklaus Mikaelson only came along once every few centuries. His whole family was legend, slipping through the shadows, all of them avoiding capture, or managing to break free from any attempted imprisonment, at least all of them except the eldest sibling, Finn. Finn had spent more of his life in solitary confinement then he had lived as a man on the outside world. But even Finn Mikaelson, perhaps the most famous criminal in custody, was nothing compared to Niklaus.

Not even The Black Widow, the most powerful woman in organized crime, compared to her son. She had raised all her children to be ruthless, but she took extra care in making sure the bastard was the most savage and unrelenting of them all. It had been an open secret that while Mikael was alive and running the family business that he abused his wife in every way possible, constantly punishing her for her affair and the illegitimate child it produced. Instead of letting it destroy her, it set a fire inside Esther. She endured every hit, every cruel word, every time Mikael held her down and had his way with her when she begged him not to. She absorbed all his anger and slipped into the shadows with the son she didn't have to share with him. She turned the boy into a wolf. Then she took her revenge.

The commissioner knew all about the Mikaelson family. He shifted nervously as he watched the one called The Wolf stand in front of him, just on the other side of the bars, holding the phone.

"What is this about?" The prisoner asked, motioning to the phone.

"You get a phone call. One."

Niklaus turned the phone over in his hands. He knew how this game was played. He smirked as he dialed the numbers to the burner phone Elijah was using.

"They're tracing this so we need to make it quick. I'm in Johannesburg, they want to move me to the U.S. You know what to do." Niklaus said it all as quickly as possible. He hung up the phone and stuck his hands between the bars, turning it back to the commissioner.

The man looked over his prisoner and felt a new sense of rage. Of course Mikaelson would see right through the attempt to trace the call, pinpoint where his allies were. He had flipped the switch and used it to his advantage. Now his people knew where he was. They would need to call in the swat team to surround the station. An attack on the station was more than likely. the Black Widow wouldn't allow another one of her children to be taken. Not without a fight.

The commissioner moved to the tech room, looking for a glimmer of hope, but he already knew the answer. Mikaelson had played them. They wouldn't have anything.

"What do we have?"

"He called a burner cell. The voice on the other line was male, possibly Kol or Elijah Mikaelson. They only got a few words out, so it's hard to say. The most we could pinpoint it's location was somewhere in the Middle East, unless they're using a remote gps system to jam our trackers. If that's the case, it could be anywhere. The phone has since been destroyed, and it was paid for in cash. It's a dead end."

"Fuck!" The commissioner shouted, punching a wall. "Fuck! I don't want him here another day. We won't lose any more men because of him. Call the Americans!"

* * *

Caroline had just told Bonnie the whole story. She couldn't stop crying. It was too much. All those months of waiting for him, staying faithful, it had all been a cruel joke.

"Ok, there's a hostel a few miles away, it's really cheap." Bonnie offered, at her work computer, trying to find Caroline's best options within her limited budget.

"I just want to go home. Isn't there anything?"

"All these flights are going to cost over two thousand. Even with my discount."

"I can't stay here, Bonnie!"

"I know, I'm looking, give me a minute... Oh! Wow, this one's cheap and it leaves tonight. A red eye."

"How cheap?" Caroline asked.

"Like, even less than the one you came in on. It just popped up. My boss must have just added it to the database."

"Get me on it!" Caroline begged.

"Sure, just let me... oh no. Wait. You don't want to be on this flight."

"Why not?"

"Just, no. They don't make these flights public. It's just pre screened people who are allowed on board. I can get you cleared, but you're not going to want it. It's cheap because no one wants to be on one of these."

"I don't care! Just sign me up."

"No, Caroline, you don't understand. This is an extradition flight."

"A what?"

"A lot of countries use our airline when they need to move serious prisoners from one country to another. It's actually a lot cheaper for them and attracts less attention than using military planes. Usually they have to be seriously bad to warrant one country allowing another to take them into custody. They're almost always murderers and rapists and kidnappers. Not like one murder either, I'm talking serial killers and people who torture their victims for weeks."

"Bonnie. I don't care. I just need to get home."

"Just listen to me, ok? They do this so people who don't know what's going on won't notice that there's a prisoner walking through the airport or on the plane. He's not going to be handcuffed. He'll look like some ordinary person on your plane."

"Bonnie, it's ok. I can deal with it."

"Ten hours on board with some creep who probably murdered multiple people? You'd be shocked how many of these guys target young women. I don't think it's a good idea Care."

"It's not like I'd be sitting next to him or anything. Won't he be easy to spot? Just look for the guy surrounded by guards?"

"Only if you know what to look for." Bonnie sighed. "Fine, I'll break it down for you. He'll be wearing normal clothes, but if you pay attention, it's like they try to dress these guys as nondescript as possible, and it's always the same. White t-shirt, jeans, sneakers, not carrying any kind of bag or luggage. He'll have a bandage on one of his lower arms, near his wrist."

"What's the bandage for?"

"They don't cuff them, because it attracts too much attention. Instead, they're closely flanked by several plain clothes guards and they're given whats called a 'chemical restraint." Basically, injected with a sedative that keeps them awake and able to walk, but more docile. Then they inject them again once they board, so they're awake but too sedated to stand up or anything like that."

"So don't go near any guys with bandages. Got it."

"He'll be in the middle seat between two guards. Probably guards filling the rows ahead and behind him also. But they're all plain clothes, so they're not going to be obvious to spot."

"Bonnie, just put me on the flight. I can't stay here another day."

"Are you sure? I can loan you money for another one. You don't have to do this."

"No way. Sign me up."

Bonnie sighed. "Alright, sure. Let me just fill out the paperwork."

* * *

Caroline made it to her seat and sighed with relief when the plane got ready for takeoff. The middle seat next to her was empty and the window seat was filled by a middle aged woman reading a book. Just to be sure, Caroline glanced at the woman's arms. No bandage.

She looked around the plane and found that Bonnie was right. It was impossible to spot anything unusual. No wonder most people never knew about this. The criminal in their midst was invisible to anyone who wasn't looking for him.

It was creepy. She glanced around, wondering if he was in the row across from her, maybe one behind her. She kept looking for him, and while she couldn't spot him, she couldn't completely rule out the people around her either. It was probably a he, but it could be a she for all she knew. There were lady psychos out there as well. Bonnie was right for not wanting her on this flight. It was unsettling.

Just ten hours. Thats all, then it would all be over and she could go home. After all, ten hours of being freaked out was worth the thousands she saved taking this flight. Once she was off the plane she was planning on spending the rest of her week off from work moping around, missing Tyler, and getting rip-roaringly drunk. Maybe Bonnie and Elena would want to go out somewhere. She could meet a strange guy at a bar and go home with him. Wasn't a good rebound the best cure for feeling crappy about a break up? Maybe she could give Matt a call, things ended with him on an ok note, he might not mind being friends with benefits. There was also Damon for that, but she doubted that would work out well. He had been all over Elena lately.

* * *

Caroline closed the book she was reading and checked her ipod. Five hours left. She needed to stretch her legs.

She walked up towards the front of the plane to use the tiny bathroom. It wasn't until she was already walking through the aisle that she realized that she could possibly be walking right past the prisoner on board. It churned her insides to think about being so close to someone like that, even if only for a second.

Once she got in the stall, she splashed some water on her face. She stared into the tiny mirror above the sink.

"Get a grip, Caroline. It's fine. Don't be such a baby."

She took a few deep breaths and walked back out. Her eyes scanned over each row as she walked past, looking for the signs Bonnie had told her about. She got distracted from her search when she spotted an insanely hot guy sitting in one of the middle seats a few rows ahead. He was seriously attractive, and she felt herself turn red when he caught her staring at him. He looked her up and down, giving her a wicked smile, and she quickly turned her head, trying to keep him from seeing her blush.

The plane hit a patch of turbulence and she stumbled, falling to her hands and knees in the narrow aisle.

_Oh, god. That hot guy just saw me fall. How embarrassing_. She cringed, thinking of how she had briefly considered "accidentally" running into the hot guy at the airport once they deplaned, maybe trying to get his number. No use now. She had totally embarrassed herself right in front of him.

A middle aged man stood up and offered her help, gently pulling her up by the arm.

"Are you ok, miss?"

"I'm fine. Just embarrassed." She smiled sheepishly at him.

"Don't be. Happens all the time." He laughed "One time I slipped on a patch of ice walking to work, ended up in the hospital."

She smiled back at him, grateful for someone to make her feel a little less humiliated.

She dusted herself off and got ready to walk back to her seat when she noticed the hot guy a few rows down was watching her intently. She tried not to look, but she kept stealing glances, and every time she looked, he was looking back at her.

When she got closer, she could see more than just his face and her eyes traveled to his form fitting white t shirt, the strong muscular arms that she wanted to reach out and touch, a defined chest just below that thin fabric. She was walking slower now, just to get a few extra seconds of time to look at him before returning to her seat.

His large hands were folded in his lap. It was odd that he was just sitting there, not reading anything or on a computer. Then she noticed something at the top of one of his wrists as he moved his hands. A bandage.

She flooded with fear. White t shirt. Jeans. Sneakers. No luggage, no book, nothing on him. The bandage.

Her eyes met his again and she flinched away, scurrying down the aisle.

* * *

He stayed as still as possible, trying to give the guards the illusion that their sedative was working. They had brought extra doses, and while he could build up an immunity to one shot or two, four or five would certainly keep him down. And then it would all be for nothing.

He was bored waiting for it. Five hours left on the flight. They were just about where they needed to be, give or take a few miles. It wouldn't be long now.

A young woman walked up the aisle to the bathroom. He watched her blonde curls bounce around her as she walked, glancing down to admire her form. He wondered what she looked like, he didn't see her get on the plane. She went into the bathroom stall and he imagined what her face looked like. She was probably nothing special. After all, she had those amazing long legs, the hair. It was unlikely that someone with a body like that could have a face to match. Not like it mattered. Everyone on the plane except him would be dead in a matter of minutes.

She was walking back and he was stunned by her beauty. She really was a pretty little thing. She was glancing around the rows of people, as if she was looking for something. She spotted him and blushed a bit when he looked back at her.

Excellent. There were few things, murder aside, that were as enjoyable as making a beautiful woman blush. He could tell by the way he had caught her looking that she liked what she saw. He looked over at her, his eyes lazily scanning up and down her body, and he watched her turn a deeper shade of red when she noticed what he was doing.

He imagined himself whispering in her ear, giving her an itemized list of every filthy thing he wanted to do to her, telling her all the ways he would take her, the plans he had for that little body of hers. He wondered what her voice sounded like, what his name would sound like tumbling from those lips.

He was distracted when the plane hit a bump and she went flying forward, landing on her hands and knees in the aisle. He wanted to get out of his seat, go to her, either to help her up or to take her right then and there, he hadn't really decided. He tried to imagine what her lips tasted like, what her skin smelled of, what she was wearing under that pretty little outfit. Of course, it was just a fleeting thought. He had to remain still, appear to be sedated, for at least a few more minutes.

Some disgusting balding middle aged man touched her. It made him seethe with anger to see someone else touch the young lady that was starring in his own private fantasy at that very moment. He wanted to rip the man's arms off for having the gall to touch her. He wanted her all to himself. It was too bad really. Only a few minutes away. She was far too beautiful to meet her end like this.

She got up and started walking and he felt pure satisfaction as he caught her continuing to stare at him. He smirked back at her, appreciating the view. She kept glancing his way, looking down to avoid keeping eye contact. She reminded him of a deer in the forest, the way she acted skittish and nervous under his gaze. He would have enjoyed the hunt if there was ever a chance. If only he had spotter her a few days earlier. If he hadn't been knocked unconscious by that falling beam, the police never would have gotten him. If he was busy chasing a beautiful woman through the city, he would never have found the time to torture those disgusting traitors, and he would never have been in that rotting warehouse.

Despite his unconventional upbringing, he had a fascination with the arts, with beautiful things. Genuinely beautiful women were among the rarest of treasures, and while he loved playing with them, the chase, getting them into his bed, he did not feel for them as people and he never loved them. They were simply beautiful things to entertain him, nothing more. It was their family crest, after all: "Love for anything beyond family is the greatest weakness. We do not feel and we do not care." Of course he had no interest in loving the gorgeous blonde who was sauntering down the aisle of the plane, he had felt only lust. He wanted to pull her back in the airplane bathroom and fuck her senseless, then move on with his day. She was nothing to him. At the same time, it was a shame that such beauty would be destroyed in just a few short minutes.

He caught her scan over his body with her eyes, doing it quickly as if she thought he might not catch her. Her gaze was suddenly locked on his hands, and he smirked, wondering what she was imagining his hands doing. If only there was a chance to show her just what he could do. He furrowed his brow a bit when her expression changed suddenly and she looked at him with fear. He quickly realized that she knew what he was. She had flinched back as soon as she saw the bandage. Someone had warned her.

He tilted his head a little, watching her scurry away out of the side of his eye. Once he heard the distant click of her seatbelt a few rows back he turned forward again and waited. Elijah knew what to do. They had a plan. It would be any moment now.

* * *

Caroline was shaken up as she returned to her seat. She tried to keep her hands steady as she pulled her seat belt back on, but she was too jittery and they shook as she clicked it shut.

"Are you alright?" The woman at the window seat asked her.

"Oh, I'm fine, just a little-"

There was an explosion and the cabin was filled with smoke. Caroline's body was jerked forward by the impact and her head hit the seat in front of her. She felt the searing pain take over and her vision went spotty as she felt the plane take a nose dive, bags popping out of the overhead compartments, a cart crashing down the aisle. The colors around her were fading even as she tried desperately to stay awake. She couldn't hold on any longer. Everything went black.

* * *

Caroline opened her eyes and saw leaves obstructing her view. A chill ran over her body and she swatted the leaves off, sitting up. Her head was pounding. Everything hurt.

Her clothes were wet and matted with sand and dirt. There was soot all over her skin. It didn't make sense. Where was she? How did she get here?

It all started coming back to her. The explosion. The fire. The nosedive the plane was taking. The last thing she remembered was the pain of hitting her head against the seat in front of her.

She hesitantly got to her feet and looked around. She had no memory of getting here. Was it possible for her to have swam to shore and not remembered? If she managed to survive the crash, than certainly others must have as well. She looked around and didn't see anyone. The forest she was in was thick and it took a few minutes of walking to reach the edge and be able to spot the beach again. She walked down on it and looked around. There was no one. Nothing. There was only one set of footprints trailing from the edge of the water and into the forest. She put her foot in the sand next to them. Not her footprints. These were much bigger. Someone else was here. Someone who must have carried her across the beach, because there was no evidence of her ever walking across it.

Caroline cautiously walked through the forrest, back to where she woke up. She moved past the spot and followed a soft noise. The sound of water.

It looked like some kind of lagoon. There were large rocks along the edges and the water was bubbling down from a stream that cut through a side of the jagged rock that sloped up the terrain. She hoped it was fresh water and not salt, because she felt dizzy and in desperate need of a drink of water. She stepped a bit closer but halted when she saw something on the rocks at the edge of the lagoon.

A white t shirt. Jeans. Sneakers. A pair of black boxer briefs. All rinsed clean of the debris that her own clothes carried and set out to dry on the rocks. She spotted the figure swimming through the lagoon and hoped that someone else on the flight was wearing the same thing. _Please don't let it be him, please don't let it be him._

He turned around she felt her heart drop into her stomach. Of course it was him.


	2. Chapter 2

She was frozen in place. It was him. The criminal on the plane. Bonnie had warned her that they only moved the worst of the worst over international borders. He had probably killed, raped or kidnapped. Or maybe some combination of the three? She wanted to run, but there was no place to run to. She hadn't seen anyone else yet.

He turned to face her. She felt a burning in her chest and realized she was holding her breath.

"Hello, love." He called out.

Oh god, why did his voice have to sound so beautiful? A British accent, seriously? She just looked back at the naked man in the lagoon, unable to register a response.

"Fancy a swim?" He asked again.

She finally lifted her eyes away from his chest, that toned stomach, the water lapping around his hips, and when she focused on his face he was wearing a smirk that let her knew he had noticed her staring. She cringed, embarrassed by how easily she could lose her mind to lust. She tried to keep her eyes away from him altogether.

"You're covered in cuts and scratches, might be good to take a dip, get them cleaned out." He offered.

She looked down and for the first time it registered why she hurt all over. She had cuts running all over her body, bruises starting to form here and there, an abrasion along one arm that looked like she was dragged along pavement. Her mouth tasted like smoke. Just standing up made her feel wobbly. She had somehow survived a plane crash. A crash she didn't remember, at least not after her head smacked the seat in front of her as the plane started to plummet. How had she gotten out alive?

"I.. Uh..." She started.

"She speaks!" He smiled. "I was beginning to think you were mute."

"Do you think you could put something on?" She stammered out.

"Does my appearance bother you?" He grinned. "You didn't seem to mind so much earlier."

She tried to stammer out a response, but couldn't seem to form words.

"Very well, if you insist." he shrugged, and started to walk towards the shore, the water covering his lower half sliding down his body to reveal more.

Caroline gasped and turned around. "What are you doing?" she shouted out, clapping a hand over her eyes.

"I have to get out to get to my clothes. Your request, sweetheart."

"Just, ugh! Tell me when you're decent, ok?" She said, shielding her eyes.

"You don't have to look away, I certainly don't mind."

"Well I do! Just let me know when you have clothes on."

She stood there for what felt like forever, hand clamped over her eyes, waiting for him to finish getting dressed. She could hear the waves from the beach to one side and the quieter lapping of the water in the lagoon on her other side.

Two hands wrapped along her upper arms from behind, making her jump.

"You can open your eyes, love."

She spun around and found him dangerously close to her, but at least he was dressed now.

"Did you have to sneak up on me like that?" She gasped. "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"You're the one who insisted on closing your eyes."

She took a few steps away from him, trying to get a little distance. She had gotten so distracted by the sight of him, by all the unfamiliar things around her, that she had momentarily forgotten who he was. He was something bad. She didn't know what, exactly, but it had to be serious. Bonnie had said only the worst of the worst were transported that way.

He was eyeing her carefully, picking up every change in expression that registered. He could see the fear and he enjoyed it.

He took a step closer and she took two back. He took another step towards her and she looked around, as if she was planning her best escape.

"Planning on running away, sweetheart?"

"Don't call me that." She responded, trying to distract him from asking her about why she was uncomfortable.

"Call you what?" He responded, feigning innocence.

"Sweetheart. It's gross and demeaning. Don't call me that."

"Gross? I was just trying to be nice. I don't know your name after all, I have to call you something."

"Well don't. I'm not your sweetheart or love or anything like that."

"What's you name?" He asked.

"Bonnie." She lied. It had been a natural impulse, trying to protect herself in any way possible.

He came closer and she tried to back away, but her back hit a tree and she was stuck. His eyes locked on hers for an uncomfortable about of time and she felt panic rush through her body.

"No, it's not. Lets try again. What's your real name?"

She bit her lip, trying to think of another name, of a way to make it sound convincing.

He leaned a little closer, blocking her from moving away.

"Don't lie to me again."

He said it quietly, but it was soaked in dominance and power. The tone he used, barely above a whisper, suggested he might snap her neck if she lied again, and that somehow he would be able to tell.

"Caroline." She said, her voice cracking a bit from fear.

He scanned her face for a few seconds.

"Yes, that's it. Caroline." He said. "Caroline, beautiful name for beautiful woman."

She scoffed at him, and immediately bit her tongue, waiting for him to lash out at her. He didn't. Instead he smiled, as if her rebuke amused him, as if she was starting a game he had looked forward to playing.

"Although I think you might be a bit more beautiful if you weren't covered in ashes and scrapes. Are you sure you don't fancy a swim? Get all that grime off?"

She felt disgusting and dirty and was sure the flames on the plane had made her sweat through all her clothes. There was nothing she wanted more than to be clean, to rinse all of it off her.

"I'm not doing that in front of you." She huffed.

"I wasn't asking for a show, Sweetheart, although I certainly wouldn't mind if you offered."

"It's Caroline. So you can stop calling me that."

"My apologies, Caroline. I'll give you some time alone." He said, gesturing towards the lagoon, and he weaved his way through the trees.

She watched him slip away and only when she was sure he was gone did she jump in the water. She jumped in fully clothed, and peeled each layer away once she got in, scrubbing as much of the dirt off as she could before setting each item of clothing on the warm rocks that sat in direct sunlight. They would dry fastest there.

She dipped under the water, trying to get all of the soot out of her hair. She could feel the water sting her at various places on her body, where she had open cuts. She carefully rinsed them off, checking for any debris in them, but luckily they looked clean.

If this wasn't such a nightmare she might actually think she was in paradise. The foliage around her was beautiful, the water was warm and clear, the jagged rocks along the side of the lagoon were worn away by the stream that trickled down them making the most soothing noise, the crunching of leaves underfoot as someone walked closer. Wait, what? She panicked, trying to cover all her parts at once, darting behind one of the rocks in the water. Why hadn't she picked this rock to rest her clothes on?

"Still swimming?" He said as he came back. "I'd have thought you'd be done by now."

"Get out!" She squeaked.

"I'm not _in_ anything."

"Go away! you know what I mean!" She protested, covering herself up.

He was polite enough not to look right at her, but he did glance over at her clothes on the rocks. Along with her jeans and tank top were a red lace bra and panties to match. She had been planning on surprising Tyler, and she had dressed for the occasion.

"Now how did you know red is my favorite color?" He joked.

"Will you just go already?" She yelled.

"Fine. I'll give you another two minutes. Any longer than that and I'm coming in there to drag you out."

He moved bak into the trees, calling over his shoulder as he walked away.

"Watch out for piranas!"

Caroline screamed and nearly flew out of the water, getting halfway to the shore before hearing him laugh in the distance. Of course there were no piranas. Asshole.

She scrambled to get dressed and not a moment after she had zipped her pants and pulled her shirt over her head, she heard him walking back towards her. There was no way he waited a full two minutes.

"So the lady of the lake emerges." He said. "Good. Now we can be on our way."

"On our way where?" She said, confused.

"Just, on." He said, making it clear he wasn't going to explain it to her.

She looked at him like he was insane.

"I'm not going anywhere with you."

He rolled his eyes at her and marched over, ready to grab her by the arm and drag her.

"NO!" She shouted, taking a step back. "Don't touch me, you disgusting slimy criminal."

He sighed. "So there it is. I thought you figured it out. One look at the bandage on my wrist and you about jumped out of your skin."

She glared at him.

"Who tipped you off?" He asked "You weren't part of my escort on the plane."

"I have a friend who works for the airline."

"Well let's hope she didn't work on the airplane we were just on."

"No." She said "Wait. The plane. Why can't I see anything from the beach? Shouldn't the wreckage be in sight?"

"Never mind that, lets get back to what you know. Your friend who works for the airline, what did she tell you?"

"That there would be a criminal on board. Obviously that's you. And that you were probably a murderer, rapist, or some psycho who likes to torture people. Or, you know, all three."

She felt her pulse race. She was angry, furious even that she was standing here with him. She was even more annoyed that he seemed to be playing with her, enjoying making her say things that amused him.

"Well, two out of three, I suppose." He shrugged.

"Excuse me?" She stammered. She had expected him to deny it, proclaim his innocence, tell her it had all been a big misunderstanding. He had just shrugged, like it was nothing at all.

"I said, two out of the three. I've never raped anyone. Don't really see the fun in that one."

"What?" She stammered, flustered by how nonchalant he was about it all.

"You want me to explain it? I suppose I just don't find the idea of having sex with someone who isn't willing very appealing. You see, while half the fun is the obvious, the other half is watching her enjoy it, the cute little noises, the way they claw at your back and pull you closer, the begging and pleading, _please don't stop_, the shaking legs, trembling-"

"OK!" she shouted "I get it, you don't need to paint a picture."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm good." She said, trying to hide her face.

"That's an adorable shade of red."

"Just shut up."

"Are you really this worked up, just hearing me talk about it?"

"Can we please talk about something else?" She asked.

"I wonder if you really do know what I'm talking about." He smirked, stepping a bit closer to her.

"I'm pretty sure anyone with two brain cells to rub together could figure it out."

"Yes, but do you really understand? You see this-" He lightly grazed his fingers along her burning cheek "Isn't the knowing flush of someone who's been there. No, this tells me that you have no idea what I'm talking about. That no one's ever taken the time to figure out what makes you fall apart under their touch, how to make you-"

"Will you cut it out! I've had sex before! With several people, ok? I said it. Now leave me alone." She swatted his hand away.

"I'm sure you have, sweetheart. I'm also sure it wasn't very good."

"The name is Caroline."

"Not denying it, I see. Would you like a demonstration? I think you'd feel a lot more relaxed."

"I'm plenty relaxed! And I'm not going to stand here in the woods with some crazy murderer who's trying to fuck me!"

"You make it sound so vulgar, sweetheart. I'm only trying to help you out, it makes me sad to hear that you've never really experienced-"

"Just stop, ok? I'm sure you're used to this being very easy for you, because of how you look, but it's never going to happen. So stop trying."

"What about how I look?" He smirked.

She bit her lip and looked away from him. Don't blush again, Caroline. Pull it together. Crazy people like him probably get off on that kind of stuff. Don't let him see that it affects you. Just get away from him. There have to be other survivors. Someone pulled you out of that plane.

She walked away, and for a moment she wondered if he would try to drag her back, hold her hostage. After all, a rescue squad would come to save them eventually, right? He would need some leverage if he expected anything other than being immediately cuffed and taken into custody. She just needed to find the others. There had to be others.

"Where are you going, love?" he called out.

"Away from you." She retorted.

He smirked as he watched her stomp away towards the beach. She had fire, and she was tightly wound like a spring. She knew what he was and while she sometimes let herself be afraid, most of the time she was mouthing off to him.

He liked her anger, the way she snapped at him and stomped her foot, crossed her arms. All it did was fan the flames inside him, the stupid burning desire to have her, to hear her scream his name, the name she hadn't even bothered to ask him for yet.

His impulse was the one thing that always got him into trouble. It was what Mikael had hated most about him, other than the circumstances of his birth. However he was very thankful for that impulse today. The logical, rational thing to do would have been to follow the plan exactly. Wait for the explosion, find the parachute hidden exactly where Elijah said it would be, strap it on, break open the door, jump. He could glide to safety that would be out of reach for any possible survivors of the crash. If the impact didn't kill everyone, they would drown before they could make it to the closest island.

His impulse was triggered by his thoughts of her. The way she walked down that aisle, the way she looked at him. He had nothing to do on that plane but sit and wait, wait for the bomb. Then she walked by. How could he think of anything else after seeing her? All that waiting was filled with thoughts of her. Her clinging to him and begging him not to stop, her gasping out his name, bouncing up and down on his lap. He needed to know what she felt like, what she tasted like.

His impulse caused him to run down the aisle of the plane before grabbing the parachute. It wasn't an easy feat, especially with the downward tilt as the plan plunged towards the ocean, the six guards that were scrambling after him. It had taken more energy than he was prepared to exert to take them all out.

His impulse made him drag her unconscious body across the plane as he slid down the aisle, hold her tight as he opened the door and the pressure sucked both of them out of the plane. His impulse demanded that she not go down with the plane. She couldn't. Not her.

It had been difficult navigating the parachute while holding on to dead weight. She hadn't opened her eyes once, not even when he landed in the water a few hundred meters away from the shore. He was certain the freezing water would wake her right up. Instead he was relegated to swimming to shore and pulling her along, careful to keep her head above water. He briefly wondered if she was dead. No one could stay passed out through all that. He had laid her down in the forrest, away from the sun that could burn her porcelain skin. He sat with her and watched her breathe. She was breathing because he took her. She should have been at the bottom of the ocean. It was the first time he had ever saved anyone other than his family. He refused to read into the act and admit to himself just how significant what he had done was. He told himself it was just because she could keep him entertained. She was just a warm body, nothing more. She was nothing to him.

He spent an hour watching her, sleeping, breathing, occasionally stirring in her sleep. There was something enthralling about her, how she captivated him, even in her sleep. He had wanted nothing more than for her to wake up in that moment. For her to realize that he had saved her life and to thank him. He would have preferred a certain type of thank you that involved her legs wrapped around him, but he was willing to accept whatever she had to offer. Instead she stayed passed out and he got sick of waiting and took a swim to rinse off all the grime from the crash and the itchy salt water.

When she woke up, it was like she didn't even know what he did for her. She was angry and defensive. She snapped back at him instead of offering gratitude or at least fear. Now she was marching away from him.

He had said too much, he had made her beyond uncomfortable. Blurting out vulgar promises, letting her know just what he had to offer. He never even had to ask, women came to him. Now he had resorted to practically begging her? Stupid, stupid. He was addicted to watching her blush and squirm, wanting to see what he could say to get a rise out of her. At least now he had gotten under her skin. There was no way she was thinking about anything else as she walked away from him.

* * *

Kol Mikaelson picked the lock and walked into the apartment. It was early in the afternoon, but all the curtains were drawn and the lights still off. The person who lived here had a more nocturnal schedule.

Kol hadn't had eight straight hours of sleep in days. His mind couldn't possibly shut off. Elijah had sent his team in for the first part of the plan, but he needed to gather his own for the pick up. Rebekah had wanted to do it instead, considering Kol botched the helicopter ride that should have taken Niklaus out of Johannesburg, but he managed to get mother to see things his way. Now he needed to wake up his troops.

Tyler woke up and moved across the hall to the bathroom, pausing when he saw the figure standing in his living room. In an instant he was behind him, arm wrapped around his head, ready to snap his neck.

He was fast but Kol was faster.

A few quick twists and Tyler was flat on his back, Kol's hands holding him against the floor. Tyler struggled to fight back for a moment before he recognized the face.

"I hate surprises." Tyler grunted.

"I'll stop planning your birthday party." Kol retorted.

The two of them laughed and Kol helped Tyler get up.

Kol scanned the apartment. The place was a dump. There were piled of dirty clothes and empty cans and bottles all over. A half eaten pizza was gathering flies on the coffee table.

"So you're the secret weapon Niklaus has been training. His little wolf pup. Eight months here and I've only met you once before now. Some things are even too mysterious for family, apparently." Kol sad, his eyes scanning over Tyler. He was wearing a stained t-shirt and sweatpants that looked so filthy that they should be burned rather than washed. "You're a total slob."

"I uh, it's not normally like this. Rough couple of days."

"Clearly." Kol mused, starting to notice how red and puffy Tyler's eyes looked.

"I got dumped the other day. It was realy unexpected. I always thought we would get married."

"You and Hayley broke up? That'll make this mission a bit awkward." Kol knew of the relations between some of the top members of the team Niklaus had been training in Johannesburg. He was well aware of the two members of The Wolf's pack that were sharing a bed. Good for them, he thought, why not mix business with pleasure?

"No, my girl from home. She doesn't know why I'm really here. Thinks I'm a zoology student at the university, working on my masters."

"Was it a dear john letter, then? A phone call?" Kol smiled, clearly enjoying Tyler's misery.

"No. She came out here to surprise me. Caught Hayley and I in bed."

"Maybe if you told her you were an anatomy student, just doing some research."

"Caroline's not an idiot. She left as soon as she came. It's probably for the best. I could never really be honest with her about all this."

"You're sure she had no idea about why you're really here?"

"None. I made sure of it. No one knows."

"So where is she now?" Kol smiled "If she's not spoken for, maybe I can take her out, show her the town."

"I don't know, she probably left, went back to Mystic Falls."

"I hope she wasn't on my brother's flight." Kol smiled.

"Yeah, I heard about the crash." Tyler said. "All over the TV. Engine failure. No survivors."

"None but the one." Kol smiled. "They can count the bodies, but with all the sharks in the water it'll come up short, they'll have to assume that some were eaten."

"You don't think they'll search the closest island, just to be sure?"

"Oh I have no doubt they will." Kol said. "We have a plan for that as well."

"So now what?"

"We wait a few days for him to get to the spot. If it all works according to plan, we'll pick him up on Thursday. I'm sure he'd be delighted to see his protege welcoming him back into the world of the living."

"Klaus told you about our training?" Tyler said warily.

"Oh, my brother told me quite a bit, I was able to fill in the blanks."

Tyler nodded curtly. He knew he would have to meet all of the Mikaelsons eventually, but he was expecting Klaus to be there with him, to tell him what he could do or say.

Kol checked his phone.

"I'm off. Lots to do. Expect a call tomorrow."

* * *

Caroline found the parachute folded neatly in the woods after a few minutes of walking. She felt triumphant. Someone else was here. Maybe the person who was in this parachute was the one who saved her. That had to be the explanation for how she got here.

There were probably lots of people from the plane who washed up here. She looked around for any sign of them. There was nothing except the one parachute.

It could have been a rescue squad. Could they have gotten here already? She didn't know how long she was out for. It didn't matter who. Someone was here.

No matter what part of the beach she went out onto, she couldn't see any sign of the wreckage, not a single thing floating in the vast expanse of water out in front of her. If the plane was floating somewhere beyond her view, there was no way anyone could swim so far. the parachute explained how they could have made it to the island. They must have evacuated the plane on the way down. There were probably more. She just had to find the rest of them.

She tore through the woods, calling out, desperate to find whoever was there. Someone had to be out there. Someone must have saved her from the wreckage. It didn't matter who it was, she needed to find them. Anyone was better than him.

She darted through the trees, calling out for anyone. Her head was turned to the side, scanning her surroundings, so she didn't see the figure step out from behind a rather large tree.

She smacked into someone and fell backwards. The impact should have knocked him on his back, but he just stood there, as if she didn't slam into him at a full sprint.

"No, not you again."

"You were expecting someone else, love?"

"It's Caroline." She grumbled. "And yes."

"Really." He said, amused. "Who are you looking for?"

"The person who saved me." She said. "I know I didn't get out of the plane on my own. Someone had to have helped me."

"They did." He nodded, serious.

"You saw?" She asked.

He nodded.

"Where are they? Are there others?"

"Just the one." He said, amusing himself with the little charade. He should feel insulted that it never crossed her mind that he could have been the one to save her, but he decided to push those feelings aside and have a little fun.

"How do you know there was only one?"

"Well, for starters, I was conscious when the plane went down."

"Fine, where is he? Or she?"

She was looking around, trying to spot her savior on the island.

"He's around here somewhere." He said, pretending to help her look.

"Do you know who he is?"

"Name's Niklaus Mikaelson. Bit of an tosser if you ask me."

"Well, no one's asking you. If you excuse me, I'd rather spend time with the person who saved me as opposed to some crazy murder torture pervert."

"Such cruel words, Caroline."

"I'm sure you've been called worse."

"But not by someone so beautiful."

"Can you just leave me alone?"

"Why?"

"Why do you think? You're creeping me out. I don't want to be anywhere near you."

"I'm not about to let you wander off alone on the island. Who knows what could happen to you. It'll get dark soon, and then what will come out?"

"I'm not going to be alone. I'm going to find this Niklaus Mikaelson and thank him for saving me, and figure out a plan to get off this island."

"I'll help." He offered.

"I'd prefer you didn't."

"Nonsense. I know what he looks like. I can help."

"You just said he was the only other one who made it. I think I'll be able to spot him without you."

He ignored her attempts to get him to leave her alone and continued walking through the woods by her side. She stayed silent, searching around everywhere she went. He enjoyed watching her, the way her brow furrowed, the brief hope that crossed her face whenever the noise of an animal scurrying through the trees caught her attention.

"So you saw it all happen? On the plane?" She asked, breaking the silence.

"I did."

"You saw him save me?" She asked.

He nodded.

"But no one else made it out?"

"It all happened very quickly. There wasn't much time."

"How did you make it out? I thought you were surrounded by guards, injected with sedatives."

"Ah, someone's done their homework." He smiled. "You're correct. However, I've been taking small amounts of different sedatives for years now, building up an immunity. And the guards aren't as much as a problem as you would think. They've got other things on their mind when the plane is rushing towards the earth."

"I didn't have anything on my mind. I hit my head and blacked out."

He nodded. "Probably better than being awake when the plane went under. Less suffering. Either way, you'd be dead with the rest of them if he hadn't grabbed you."

"Why did he save me? I don't know him. I don't even know what he looks like."

"I don't know." He answered honestly.

"What is he like? Did you talk to him?"

"Oh, yes, we had a little chat. Bit of a disagreement. He can be a little moody."

"You're one to talk."

"Careful love. You wouldn't want to get on my bad side."

"I don't want to be on any of your sides, I want to find this Mikaelson guy and get as far away from you as possible."

He held back a laugh. She was really quite entertaining. He couldn't wait to see her face when he decided to get around to telling her the truth.

"Now, sweetheart-"

"Name's Caroline." She spat at him, not bothering to look his way, distracted by her search to find someone in the trees. He had to be close. How far could he have gone? It was getting darker by the minute, and she couldn't see very far into the distance as the forrest grew grey and dark.

"Now, Caroline. I think you'll find that I'm a lot more fun than this Mikaelson you're looking for. Why not give up? Rest your feet a bit."

"No. I need to find him."

"This isn't some bloody hero thing is it?"

"What?"

"You're looking for your savior, already half in love with him for rescuing you."

"And what's so wrong with that? The guy saved my life. You wouldn't know a thing about that, since you're the type to take lives instead." She said.

She really didn't care if the killer following her around thought she was blindly in love with the man who saved her. In all honesty, she just wanted to get away from the deranged criminal, and would use any opportunity to do so. Plus he seemed to find it annoying that she might have a crush on her unknown rescuer, so she decided to play it up a bit, just to bother him.

"Already swooning over your knight in shining armor, are you?"

"Maybe." She huffed.

"And what are you planning on doing once you're reunited with your hero?"

"No business of yours."

"Are you going to kiss him?"

"What?" She looked at him like he was crazy. Kissing anyone had been the last thing on her mind.

"Isn't that what happens when the princess comes face to face with the hero?"

"You know what, yeah. I am going to kiss him. I'm going to be so overcome with joy to set eyes on a person who isn't you that I won't be able to stop myself from kissing them."

"Thinking about me makes you want to kiss someone?" He joked.

"Don't twist my words."

"You could always kiss me instead. After all, we both already know that you're attracted to me, and who knows what you'll think of the looks of this Mikaelson guy."

"I'm not attracted to you."

"I thought I told you not to lie to me again."

She spun around to tell him again that she wasn't interested, and he moved closer, his face dropping the easy smile he had only moments ago.

She didn't know what she had been thinking, spending all day spitting fire at the most dangerous person she had ever met. Something about the way he smiled at her retorts made her think she could get away with them, but he wasn't a punching bag. He was a time bomb, and he had just bottomed out.

His face grew serious and she felt a flood of panic. He had snapped out of nowhere in the middle of their friendly conversation, and now he looked like he might actually kill her.

"This has been a fun evening, but it seems that you need to be reminded of something." He said, his voice low and threatening as he approached her. She shuddered as he leaned close to her, picking up her wrists in each hand. "I am in change here. You can have your fun, but when I give you a command, you obey. And so far, the only thing I have commanded of you is that you do not lie to me."

"I wasn't lying." She stammered out.

"And there's another lie." he said. "You see, I can tell that you're used to getting away with it, you're not half bad. But everyone has their tells."

He absently stroked her wrists with his thumbs. "Your pulse jumps a bit. I can feel it now, but before, I could see it. The hitch in your breath, the flush of pink across your chest. Then there's the way your eyes dart to the left for just a fraction of a second. It's how I knew you were lying when you tried to give me a false name, and it's how I know you were lying just now, saying you aren't attracted to me."

She glared back at him, angry, embarrassed, afraid to say anything at all.

"Don't worry." He said, still with the dangerous softness in his voice that sent shivers up her back. "I'm not going to make you say it now. I can only imagine how confusing it must be for someone like you, having such thoughts about someone like me. I bet you're an upstanding citizen. Moral. You biggest run in with the law was some parking ticket. Am I on the right track?"

"It was a speeding ticket." She said.

"There you have it. You've probably never had a taste of the other side, Never wanted to take vengeance against a corrupt justice system. Never wanted to take matters into your own hands. But here you are with me, and you can't stop thinking about what it would be like, you and me. How good it would feel. You know it would be so wrong, I'm no good, but you can't stop thinking about it."

She turned to look away from him, afraid of what he might read in her eyes if she looked at him. He was vile, disgusting and horrible, but he hadn't said anything false yet. Her entire body was on fire and she kept trying to convince herself it was out of fear, but there was something else too. Something she didn't want to admit.

He kept his hold on her wrist, turning his fingers over her pulse point.

"Your heat's racing." He mused. "I wonder if it's because of my close proximity?"

"It's only because I'm afraid." She said.

"Is that so?" He said.

He moved closer so he was pressed up against her. She felt warmth shoot all over her body and she had to fight the impulse she felt to throw herself at him. It was all his fault. He had put the ideas in her head. She couldn't help it. After all, she had spent the last eight months without any contact, waiting faithfully for Tyler. She had thought that she would have finally have broken the dry spell yesterday, before she found him in bed with someone else. It had nothing to do with the deranged man looming over her. It was just pent up frustration. He was hot, so what? It didn't mean she actually wanted him.

He moved one of his hands to her neck, still holding her wrist with the other hand. He traced a few light lined over the side and she felt her breath hitch again, much to her own shame. She didn't want to give him a reaction. He dipped his head a little and traced along her neck with the tip of his nose, his lips dangerously close to her skin, his breath warming her and making her shiver at the same time.

She bunched her free hand in a ball, afraid that she might use it to pull him closer if she let herself forget who he was.

"I can smell your fear." He whispered into her neck. "That's good. You're a smart girl. I wonder if you're brave too. Brave enough to admit that fear isn't the only thing you feel right now."

She felt him slowly back away and she hated herself for wishing he had stayed pressed against her just a moment longer.

He looked her over, seemingly satisfied with how much he rattled her.

"Alright, lets go find your little hero. It's getting late. You wouldn't want to be stuck with the likes of me for the night instead."

She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to compose herself, then she followed him through the woods.


	3. Chapter 3

They had been walking for a half hour with no sign of life. He seemed to have a specific set of directions but it all seemed the same to her. She hated the empty silence, and went through a list of possible conversation starters before settling on one.

"You took a parachute too? LIke the guy that grabbed me?"

He nodded.

"How did you know that parachutes would be there? Where they were?"

"My brother's men put them exactly where I knew to look for them." He said.

"Your what?"

"People working for one of my brothers. When we were about to board, there was a brief delay."

She thought back to waiting in the airport. They made an announcement over the intercom.

"Right. Something about a maintenance sweep."

"Correct. The men in the maintenance uniforms were not actual airport employees. My brother's men planted the bomb, the parachute, ensured that the correct door would open for me when I needed to jump. All part of the escape plan."

She stopped walking. She had thought the explosion was some sort of accident.

"You did this?" She demanded.

"Did what?"

"You caused the crash? Everyone is dead because of you."

"Yes." He said simply.

She took a few steps away from him.

"You really are a monster. You're worse than I thought."

He rolled his eyes. "Right. How wretched of me. Lets say a prayer for all the trivial little lives lost on the plane today, shall we?"

"This isn't a joke." She stammered out. "They didn't deserve to die. This is all because of you. You killed every person on that plane."

"Everyone except you." He corrected her.

A look of horror took over her face.

"Oh god. Oh no." She whispered.

"What?" He asked.

"You killed him too?"

"Who?"

"You said someone saved me. You said his name was Niklaus Mikaelson. But you just said that you killed everyone on the plane except me. So what happened? You murdered him once we got on the island? And now you're going to kill me?"

"I'm not going to kill you." He said, using the same calmness and tone he always used right before he pulled the trigger. This time he actually meant it.

"Right." She scoffed.

She took off running. It was getting dark and she was going further and further into the forrest. The darkness would hide her, but he could hear every footstep. It was smart of her to run from him. She had survival instincts. She wouldn't just lie down and die for him. If he wanted to kill her, he would have to work for it.

She could feel him catch up. He was running faster than her. It had only taken him a minute, even with the fantastic head start she had gotten.

He was trying to shout out reassuring words to her, but she wouldn't be fooled. She would run as long as her legs carried her. He couldn't have it so easy. Her chest burned and she felt like she might collapse at any moment, but nothing was going to stop her.

His hand reached out and grazed against her arm. He was almost close enough to grab her. The slight touch from him filled her with revulsion and made her move even faster than she thought possible. She barreled forward, feeling dread sink in as his fingers found their way around her wrist. A root caught her foot and she went tumbling, pulling him down with her.

She landed hard on the ground, face first into the brush, and felt another hit as he got yanked down with her, landing on her back.

She scrambled for something to grab on to, pulling at the roots and vines around her, trying to free herself out from under him. Her arms were yanked back down and he pulled himself up a bit, taking his weight off her, but still leaving her pinned. He grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to roll over so she was facing him. His hands kept her pinned in place. She looked up at him, knowing this would be the last thing she ever saw. She waited for the blow.

"I think it's time I formally introduce myself. My name Is Niklaus Mikaelson. You can call me Klaus."

"What?" She said."But you said..."

He rolled over and pulled himself up. He extended a hand out to pull her up as well.

She ignored it and helped herself up.

"How about that kiss?" He smirked.

Instead she punched him in the chest.

She cupped the hand she hit him with in the other, it hurt way more than she thought it would. She had never hit anyone before and wasn't expecting that. He didn't seem to be nearly as affected as she was.

"I suppose that was to be expected." He shrugged.

It made her see red that he wasn't even a little hurt.

"You deceitful, lying.."

"Careful." He warned.

He glanced over at her hands, she was still holding them together, trying to shake off the pain.

"Here." He said reaching out for her hand.

She pulled back, but he reached again and pulled the hand she hit him with into his own.

"Next time you hit someone, wrap your thumb along the outside, don't tuck it into your fist. Keep your wrist straight, and aim to connect with the first two knuckles."

He was playing with her hand, molding it into the right shape as he spoke.

"Like this." He said, tracing a finger across her knuckles, then holding her closed fist against his chest, showing her how to land her punch most effectively.

She felt a shiver run through her as his hands wrapped around her fist, holding her hand against him.

"Now try again." He said, letting go of her hand.

"You want me to hit you?"

_I want you to touch me and I'll take what I can get._ He thought.

"I want to make sure you've learned how to hit someone. If you keep doing it wrong you'll end up with a broken wrist."

"It'll hurt." She warned.

"I doubt that very much." He smiled. He'd taken hits a lot harder than anything she could dish out. He had been tied up and beaten to a pulp by the Fell brothers and Damon Salvatore before. There had been the time with Logan Fell and the metal pipe. Once you get used to the pain of broken ribs being jabbed repeatedly into your internal organs, nothing else comes close. She was just a little girl.

"Fine." She agreed.

She swung, forming her fist just like he taught her, and hit him as hard as she could in the middle of his chest.

He gasped and fell back on the ground, clutching where she hit.

"Klaus?" She shouted out, for the first time calling him by his name. "Klaus? Oh my god! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

He was on the ground, blinking as if he was shocked by the pain, one hand over where she had hit.

She scrambled to the ground next to him, and felt a panic set in. His hand was grasping at his shirt, over the spot where she hit him.

Without thinking, she pulled up his shirt to have a look. It was a little red, but nothing serious. She didn't know what else to do, so she slid her hands over the spot she had hit, rubbing soothingly. She softly traced her fingers along the area until the redness went away.

Then she caught the smile slowly forming on his lips.

"Mmm, keep doing that. I have some other places you can punch me next if this is the treatment I'll receive."

"You asshole!" She swatted at him, "That's not funny! I thought I really hurt you!"

"Oh, you didn't really believe that you could knock me to the ground, did you?"

She just scowled at him.

"Nice to know you cared, though. You looked so worried about me." He grinned.

"Shut up."

They walked through the forrest, him leading the way. She kept glancing at him and he would smirk, remembering his little jokes.

"You didn't kill the man who pulled me out of the plane." She said, eying him warily.

"No. I pulled you out."

"Why?" She asked.

"Because I wanted to."

"Because you wanted to?" She said, incredulous. "That's the best you've got?"

"It's the truth." he shrugged.

"But why did you want to?"

"I wanted to because I wanted to."

"Real mature." She rolled her eyes.

"We need to keep moving." He said scanning over the dark forrest. "They could start searching this island by the afternoon.

"Who is they?"

"A rescue team of sorts. More like a body collecting team, really. They never come in within enough time to actually save anyone."

"Someone's going to save us?" She asked, her voice hopeful.

"No. We'll be off the island before they get on shore."

"Where will we be?"

"Just off. They'll dredge up the wreckage first, pull up the bodies that haven't burned, drifted too far or been eaten by sharks. After that, it's protocol to search any body of land within ten miles, but only after the water is thoroughly searched for any possible survivors."

"Do you think they'll find survivors?"

"It's never their intention, only their public image. It's too dangerous to send people in at night, like when the plane went down. It's too dangerous to send divers in when there's fire, which there undoubtably was at the time of the crash. They may say they look for survivors, but it's a farce. They wait ten hours to get to the site. No one would survive in the ocean that long."

"And then they'll come here?"

"I imagine they will. This is the only body of land in the search radius."

"And won't we be here when they arrive? Are you going to kill them too?" She asked.

"No, we'll be somewhere else."

"Are you going to tell me where?"

"No." He responded, scanning the island. Something to the left caught his eye and he picked up his pace to get to it.

She scurried to follow after him, having to pause every few steps. She was exhausted, hungry and aching all over. She was pretending to be fine because she didn't want him to think she was weak, but she couldn't keep going much longer.

He found the parachute, the only thing other than their footsteps that could give away that they had been on the island. The wind and the leaves on the ground would take care of the footsteps. He folded the parachute and tucked it under his arm.

He looked up at the cliffs that jutted out over one side of the island. The grassy terrain sloped up in front of them, creating a steep climb.

"We need to get up there, it's the quickest path to where we're going."

"I can't. It's too much." She shook her head, looking up at the climb. How much more could she endure?

"Yes you can." He said. He took her hands in his, and looked at her. "You're strong. You can do this."

"No." She shook her head. "I'm not."

"You are. You probably had a concussion today and you're covered in cuts and bruises, but I haven't heard you complain about that once. You know what I am and yet you don't shrink away from fear. You fight back. You are strong enough to do this."

She looked up at the climb she was facing. He was still holding one of her hands, guiding her to it. She let his words repeat in her head. She was strong. She could do this.

* * *

Esther Mikaelson looked out on the balcony. She hated this feeling, when one of her babies was out there and there was nothing she could do. The plan was in place. Elijah had done his part, and in a few days Kol would do his.

She reminded herself over and over that Niklaus was strong. She had made him as strong as a person could be. He would be fine. Still, she wouldn't feel the weight lift from her shoulders until she saw his face again.

The news broke. Footage of the wreckage was on several news stations. Flight from Johannesburg to Washington DC goes down in flames. A freak accident involving the engine combustion chambers, a one in ten million chance.

None of the stations reported on the fact that the most feared member of the Mikaelson crime family was on board. His arrest had been kept quiet, and the governments of both countries agreed to never mention that he was on board. It would put the entire transport system under scrutiny they didn't need. The had decided that when they found his body they would make up some story about finding it in some unrelated place. Then they could tell the public he was dead.

The general public had no idea. Those who lived in the criminal underworld always knew the score. For now, they were all a step behind. Word had gotten around about Niklaus being on board, but the fools all thought he was actually dead.

Sympathy floral arrangements and cards were pouring in to Esther's home. Most were from people with loose ties to their family who wanted to stay in her good graces. There was one, however, that was sent purely to mock her.

The yellow roses were far to cheery for this sort of thing. And carnations? Horrible. Carnations were tacky, even when they weren't dyed eater egg hues. She looked at the card.

**With our deepest sympathy**

**The Council **

In a rage, Esther took the entire arrangement and threw it off the balcony. How dare they mock her? They did this just to prod her when they thought she was grieving. She would make them pay. She would ask Niklaus himself to pay some of them a visit.

The Council was a shadow organization based in a small town in Virginia. They had started out as a vigilante group, going after the criminals that slipped through the law's fingers. Now they were no better than the rest of them. They had grown greedy and corrupt over the years. They still had their missions to take out organized crime families, but now it had more to do with money and business than the good of the general population. When they took out the Carlisis in Chicago it wasn't to get rid of the gun running operation, it was to take over. The same happened when the Council sent their golden boy Logan Fell into Miami. He took up shop there and now everything that came in through the ports came to him first. They were hypocrites, with their farce of trying to rid the world of criminals like her. They had gone after her, many times, but she was better.

She had spent the last two years carrying out a new plan when it came to dealing with the council. They were carefully poaching potential council members, bringing them into the Mikaelson organization instead.

The Council was unlike any operation she had ever been up against. It was loosely tied to family, but not in the way others were. There was no one family, it was a network of several families that had lived in that small town for generations. Children didn't grow up aware of it. They weren't allowed to know the council even existed until they were 25 and the couldn't be full members until they were 30. The organization was run like a democracy, everything voted on by all the full members, no one person in charge. Their system seemed to work. They grew more powerful over the decades, always bringing in new, eager people with something to prove. The young members weren't as lazy or privileged as those in most crime families. They didn't grow up expecting anything, so they weren't entitled. They all had to prove themselves. Damon Salvatore was one in particular that had caught her attention. From what she heard, he was making great strides with the Council in his short time as a member. She would have to keep her eye on him.

It began as Kol's idea. One of the few brilliant ones he has had. They got friendly with people from families known to be involved with the Council. People in their late teens or in the first half of their twenties, just a little too young to know about what was going on. They would then take the best of the best, and bring them in to the Mikaelson organization.

They got Tyler Lockwood. He was Niklaus's pet project. He was strong and brutal, but he could be trained to be loyal. No one knew he was involved with them. Even his parents thought he was studying abroad. In two years time they would reveal themselves to be council members and ask him to join. By then he would already be working for the Mikaelsons. If they could trust his loyalty, they would send him in as a spy. But they needed more than one set of eyes on the inside. Kol had the Gilbert boy. Rebekah had her eye on acquiring the younger Salvatore brother, a lost cause in her mind, he would always have the most loyalty to his brother. Elijah had suggested getting the Gilbert girls as well, making things a bit neater by getting a set of siblings on their side. Twins could be very useful, but the Gilbert girls were both known to spend their time around the Salvatores. She wasn't sure if they could ever be trusted. They had lucked out when Jeremy got into a fistfight with the much older Damon Salvatore over something involving one of his sisters. Kol made friends with the boy the next day and they bonded quickly over their mutual distaste for him.

For now, she had to hope her children knew what they were doing. She had to trust them to be who she trained them to be. Niklaus was out there alone, and he needed his family.

* * *

Caroline looked out over the edge of the cliff. It was a long drop down onto jagged rocks. They were edging along the side of the mountain, twisting through the bends to get to the other side. There was no way to get where he wanted to go without making this climb.

He kept checking on her, holding her hand, making sure she was ok. She wouldn't admit that she was so tired and exhausted she was starting to feel likes she could drop at any moment. She wouldn't tell him that she could feel the blisters forming on her feet, making every step sting as her shoes dug into raw skin. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Whatever nice act he was getting at right now was just that, an act. He had the worst mood swings. He'd probably be back to threatening her or trying to get in her pants at any given moment.

"How much longer is it going to take?" She asked.

"I don't know, just keep following me."

"Following you where?"

"Just follow."

"Why won't you tell me where we're going?"

"I don't know what makes you think I owe you explanations, Caroline. I believe I made it fairly clear that I'm in charge here."

"In charge of what? You keep alluding that you have some kind of plan. I want to know whats going on. At least tell me what my part in all this is."

"Your part is doing as I say and not making any trouble. You see, I plan on getting out of here in the next few days, and I can either take you with me or leave you here to rot."

"What?" She exclaimed.

"I figured that might make you a bit nicer." He smiled. "Did you think you were getting a police escort off the island? My brothers are collecting me, and I don't have to take you along."

"Where are they taking you?"

"Away from here. They won't be pleased about seeing you. The main benefit of this whole disaster was that for a while everyone would think I was dead, and it would leave me free to carry out the family next big thing, taking some unlucky opponent completely by surprise."

"What will they do to me? When they see me?"

"You mean if they see you? If I decided to keep you alive and take you with me? Oh, I'm sure killing you will be discussed within the first few minutes. There aren't a lot of other options, none you'll like anyway."

"So that's it? Die here or die somewhere else in a few days? Theses are my choices?"

"Like I said, I didn't exactly plan on taking you out of the plane. I haven't thought that far ahead yet."

"Well, I suggest you think about it now!"

"I'm working on it."

"No, that is not good enough! If you're just going to let me die than kill me right now. I'm not going to spend the next few days keeping you company just so you can dispose of me."

"I didn't mean-." He started. "Caroline, calm down."

"Calm down? You expect me to be calm about this, just because you can be calm about ending my life? I'm obviously not a person to you, I'm just something to play with, something to entertain you until you can get back to them. Well I'm not going to be your toy."

She looked over at the cliff. It wasn't too far away. The fall would kill her instantly. If she had to choose an instant death or a long drawn out one, the instant one seemed better.

She glanced over at him and took a few steps backwards, then began to run towards the cliff.

He caught the look in her face. She was going to do it. He felt his entire body flood with fear. He tore after her and yanked her back before she could even get close. He was sure she wasn't bluffing. She had no reason to think he would have grabbed her.

"What are you doing?" He demanded "Are you crazy?"

He had yanked her away from the edge and slammed her to the ground, throwing himself over her to keep her from trying to run again.

"I know you are" She spat back. "Why should it matter if I am too?"

She tried to shove him off, but he wasn't budging. He looked furious at her.

"You were going to jump off the cliff? How could you do that?"

"Why did you stop me? So I can entertain you some more? Keep you company? Because you want something to play with until your brothers arrive?"

"No! You don't understand."

"I understand perfectly, Klaus. You just spelled it out for me. If I'm alive, I'm a liability to you. You're going to have to kill me eventually. I just wanted to beat you to the punch."

"No." He shook his head. "I shouldn't have said it like that, I was just trying to make you more cooperative, that's all."

"You mean more likely to sleep with you out of my own free will? You think I would try to save my life by making myself useful to you? You've made it pretty clear that's what you're interested in with me."

"I don't want that. I told you, I would never want to be with someone who didn't want it. That includes you sleeping with me as some sort of bargaining chip for your life. I would never try to manipulate you into something like that."

"Back to the nice guy act? Trying to pretend there was some reason you pulled me out of that plane other than you wanting to fuck me? Your mood swings are giving me whiplash."

"So what if I pulled you out of there because I thought you were attractive? Because yes, at the moment I wanted nothing more than to have you. Because there's something unique and beautiful about you I couldn't let go down with the plane. Why does it matter? I saved you, didn't I? Doesn't that mean I did something right?"

"No, not if you only saved me to play with me for a few days before killing me."

"I'm not going to kill you"

"You just said it. I can't stay alive. If you don't do it, your brothers will."

He pulled her up so she was sitting and he sat in front of her, his hands on either side of her face, forcing her to look at him.

"I need you to look at me. I need you to know I'm not lying. I am not going to kill you. I won't let my brothers kill you either. Everything I said about that, I was just trying to get you to stop asking questions, I never expected you to react like this. It isn't true. I never considered leaving you here or ending your life."

"But how can you say that? You know I'm a liability. You don't know me. You don't have a problem killing people. Why should I believe a word you're saying?"

"Because it's true."

She looked at him and put her hands over his. He slowly moved them away from her face and entwined his fingers with hers, holding on to her as if she might sprint off the cliff if he let go. She started crying. She believed him and hated herself for it. It would only make things worse. She couldn't get attached to him. She couldn't trust him. And now she was showing weakness and she couldn't hide it from him. She had never wanted him to see her cry.

"I don't want to die." She sobbed. "I didn't want to jump. I just didn't know what else to do. I can't sit around and wait for you to kill me. If you're going to do it, please just do it now. Don't make me wait."

He was astonished by her courage. She wasn't afraid of death or of taking her own life. She just didn't want to be tormented by it looming over her head. There was something within her, the fire in her eyes, that told him she had endured worse than this already, and that she wasn't going to do it again. Something had happened to her and he had just made it his mission to find out what.

"Listen to me, Caroline. I'm not going to let anything happen to you. You're safe. You're safe with me. Do you understand?"

She nodded.

He looked her over, making sure the message sank in, then he pulled her to her feet, not letting go of her hand.

She looked down at where he held her hand, wondering why he hadn't let go yet.

"I'm not letting you run off any more cliffs." He smiled. "I'm keeping you close until we get back to sea level."

* * *

Kol and Jeremy had some business to take care of. Niklaus had made the clean up infinitely easier by activating the detonators as he was being dragged away, but there were a few stragglers.

Jeremy held up the two baseball bats, one wooden and the other aluminum.

"Which one?" he asked.

Kol pointed to the wooden one, and Jeremy tossed it over.

"You see, Jer, always start with the knee caps." Kol said, smashing in the man's right one, then pausing to make sure Jeremy saw before shattering the left one. The second blow caused the bat to splinter.

"I hate when they do that." Kol gestured to the bat "Aluminum just doesn't have the same feel. But, I guess it'll do for now."

Jeremy tossed the second bat over.

"Knees first, stomach, back, then head." Kol said. "That way they feel more pain, gives them a little more time to talk, if you're trying to get information."

"I'm not talking." The man grunted.

"Of course you're not." Kol smiled. "I don't care what you have to say. I just want to see your brains on floor."

He swung again.

* * *

They had made it down the other side of the mountain, and Caroline could hardly stand up. She was exhausted, covered in sweat, starving.

He never let go of her hand. He had said it was because he wanted to keep her close in case she tried to fling herself off a cliff again, but he didn't let go, even after their feet touched sand again.

"We're here." He said, scanning the shoreline.

"It looks exactly the same as the other side." She said.

"Looks can be deceiving." He said.

"Now what?"

"Now we wait for the tide to go back out. It should be a few hours." He said, looking over the indents in the sand, trying to figure out a time frame. It would only work if it was at just the right time. The tide had to be at it's lowest.

He looked over at her and could see her swaying a bit as she stood.

"You need to rest."

"No, I'm fine." She said.

"You're not." he said. "You need sleep."

She eyes him warily. Falling asleep in front of him seemed like a terrible idea.

He read her expression. "I'm not going to hurt you." He reminded her. "You can fall asleep. You'll be safe."

"I'm too smart to believe you." She said.

"Well that's why I like you." He grinned.

She felt her stomach do a flip flop. Did he like her? No, he didn't mean it like that. Focus, Caroline. She just wanted to lie down. But what would he do if she closed her eyes.

"Still don't believe me?" he asked. "Very well, lets see what we can do about it."

She watched him flip through his mind for a solution.

"Search me." He offered.

"What?"

"Search me for a weapon if you're so afraid of closing your eyes in front of me."

She gave him a wary glance. He opened up his stance, holding his arms out to the sides as if she was a TSA agent with one of those metal detector wands.

"Go on, have at it." He offered.

Hesitantly she approached him, and patted down on his sides.

"Alright, I get it, no weapons."

"You're going to have to do a little better than that. You didn't even bother with my pockets."

She gave his back pockets a quick pat and stepped away. He grinned at her, enjoying her discomfort at his open invitation to be groped. He poked his hip out at her, a reminder to check his front pants pockets as well.

She hesitated, but carefully slid her hand in his front pocket, keeping as close to the outer side as possible. She didn't want to get to close to anything. He nodded his head for her to try the other pocket, grinning down at her like he was having fun with the whole charade. She hated that he was enjoying this.

He felt a small hand slide into his front left pocket and quickly dart back out. Even though the feeling was only momentary, he had to close his eyes and think of something else to distract himself. If he let himself focus on her hands running over him, blood would start rushing somewhere very close to where her hand had just been, and that would make the whole situation a bit awkward.

"Ok, you're good." She stammered out.

"Are you sure you don't want to keep checking?" He teased her. "I'm sure I could be hiding a weapon in a lot more places."

"Well it's not like it matters, you could kill me just as easily with your bare hands." She said.

He saw the fear and apprehension. She was right. It would be easy. Such a slender little neck. He would only have to use one hand to snap it. But that thought had never come into his mind until now. He didn't want to.

"I won't." He assured her. "I told you, you're safe with me."

She hesitated. He could see that she was exhausted. She needed sleep before he dragged her on the next leg of the journey.

"You're going to leave me here to die if I fall asleep." she whispered.

"No."

"I can't trust you." She said.

He looked her over. He was still plagued by the thought of tearing her clothes off, of running his hands all over her naked body, of being inside her. But now there were other things joining those little ideas. She was smart, wary, brave. She had fire and she was different. She argued with him at every turn, and he liked it. He liked that she wasn't going to cower to him. But at the same time there was a new need burning inside him. He needed her to trust him.

"So if I can convince you I won't leave you or kill you, then you'll agree to get some sleep?" He offered.

"Yes, but I don't see how..." She agreed.

He nodded, then reached for her hands.

He flopped back on the sand so he was lying on his back and pulled her down over her. She stumbled a bit, surprised by it, and tried to pull away from him.

"What are you doing?" She stammered.

His hand was on one of her legs, trying to pull her down so she was straddling him.

"Just relax, Caroline, I'm not trying anything."

"Do you mind explaining what you're doing then?" She stammered, trying to pull away, but he had her held tight over him.

"Look. You're on top of me. I can't leave without you noticing. If I try to slip away when you're asleep, it'll wake you up.

"Oh." She said.

When he was convinced she would stay put he moved his hands away from her and put them in the sand at his sides. This was going to be more difficult than he imagined. She was pressed up against him, her head resting on his chest. Her legs were curled along his sides and her hips were pressing against him in a rather inconvenient way. She shifted a bit against him as she got comfortable and the friction made him bite his lip and ball his fists up, trying to not think about how good she felt against him.

_Think of something disgusting. Think of old ladies in their underwear. Think of that corpse with all the worms in it you found last year and how it smelled. Anything. Anything to keep from thinking about what she feels like pushed up against you, how warm she is, how if you were in this very same position unclothed, you could just... NO! old ladies! worms! cut it out!_

"You could still kill me in my sleep." She whispered. He caught her glancing over at his hands. Hands that have killed plenty, but they wouldn't kill her.

He looked down and saw her eyes start to flutter shut. She wanted to fall asleep, but she needed a little more convincing.

He hesitantly moved his hands away from his side, and slid them under the hem of her shirt, so the were against her lower back, fingers splayed across the most intoxicatingly soft skin. He looked down at her, expecting her to say something sharp, to tell him to get his hands off her. Instead she just looked confused.

"Do you feel my hands?" he asked her.

She nodded against his chest.

"Good. You can sleep. You'll wake up if you feel my hands move. I can't hurt you if my hands are here."

"Please don't kill me." She murmured, half asleep.

"I won't. Go to sleep."

He stayed perfectly still as he watched her fall asleep. Her even breathing moved with his own, her head resting against his chest. He absently traces patterns with his fingertips on her back.

He had beautiful women fall asleep on him before. It's not like he preferred to have them spend the night, it was usually better if they just left after, but sometimes there was nothing to be done about it. It wasn't so terrible, having a naked woman fall asleep with her head resting on your shoulder or chest, still flushed and sweating from the pleasure you gave her. They were always gone by morning. He wasn't the type for breakfast and exchanging numbers. He had lost count of how many women there had been. They were all exquisite specimens of beauty, and they all fell to pieces at his touch. But beautiful women were usually shallow creatures, boring, simple. They never had much more going on in their pretty little heads. He never thought twice about any of them after watching them leave.

The girl on top of him now was something different. There had never been a time where he had been in such an intimate position with someone he didn't just have sex with. He wondered if it would ever happen with her. She would be sublime, with all her fire, he was sure of it. She seemed like it was something she wanted at times, but she was holding back. He was trying to coax her without pushing. Never pushing. It had to be her choice, or it would be meaningless. He wasn't used to waiting this long to get what he wanted. Not that he minded, he could wait a lot longer if it meant finally getting to see what she was like. He didn't even want to imagine how her fiery personality would take over in bed, how amazing it would be to finally be with someone who challenged him, kept him guessing. He felt her skin against his hands and ached for more. He couldn't stand this torture of his own making. He could feel her, she was right there. If only things were different, if only she would ever allow it.

He looked down at her, peacefully asleep, draped over him. He had a few hours. He could let himself close his eyes.

Before long, he had fallen asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Klaus woke up in the sand, at first a bit confused about the body draped over him. Then he remembered. Caroline.

He could feel her breathing against his chest, a soft hum as she stirred occasionally. He stayed as still as possible, not wanting to wake her. His hands were still against her lower back, and he moved them only slightly, tracing little lines against her skin, letting himself enjoy the moment while it lasted.

She had surprised him yesterday. She was really going to run off that cliff, willing to take her own life rather than have to wait for him to do it. The look in her eyes when he caught her and pinned her down wasn't relief. It was anger. She was mad at him for prolonging it, for taking away her chance.

He knew a lot about last moments, about death, how people faced it. She was unique, but he recognized the type. She wasn't giving up, or doing it out of hopelessness and despair. There was a different reason. It had everything to do with control, and her wanting to have it. He was curious what it was. There was something that created this type of response. He had seen it in some of the older men he came up against, the look of someone with a haunted past who would rather die their own way than go through it again. He had seen the look in his mother's eyes, the way she used to pause holding the knives when she put away the silverware, absently turning one in her hands. If he wasn't there to promise her he would do it, to remind her every day that he was working towards being strong enough, would she have waited? Would she have hoped for another way to get rid of Mikael or would she have taken one of those knives and ended it all, rather than have to endure more of it?

Caroline had that same kind of strength, the kind that only came out when someone had survived trauma. He hadn't noticed it until yesterday. She was so beautiful, so light, it was hidden under smiles and blonde ringlets that framed her face.

He had never felt such an impulse to keep someone safe. No one except family. But she was more than he was prepared for. He wanted to know what happened, to be the one to promise her he could make sure it never happened again. But more than anything, he wanted her to look at him the way she did in that moment, when she spotted him as she walked down the aisle of the plane, the moment before she found out what he was. He wanted to make her lust for him again, but now he knew that to do that, he would have to make her trust him first.

* * *

It was always the same dream. She could go for weeks, months even without having it, but whenever she dreamed, it was this one. That night, so many years ago. The nights that followed. The whole string of events played out like a movie in her head, a reminder of the personal hell she allowed to let herself get trapped in.

It had been months in the making. He had been so tense about his 30th birthday, and he didn't want to acknowledge it at all. She joked about the inappropriate age gap. (Which for some reason, her mother didn't seem to mind, nor the fact that she had recently taken to spending most nights at his house.) He glared and drank and made sarcastic quips. He had been under so much pressure with work, but he never told her any details. Every attempt to cheer him up or do birthday things led to him snapping at her. They got into an argument about something stupid. He was mad she gave Bonnie the necklace he gave her. They were broken up at the time and she just wanted to get rid of every reminder of him. When they got back together he expected her to ask for it back, but she refused.

The yelling and screaming escalated. She was red in the face and he had a vein that pulsed under his left eye whenever he got mad. Then it happened all at once. He lunged at her, his fist connecting with his stomach.

He panicked when he realized what he did. He ran over to her, trying to fix it. He was on his knees, his face pressed against her stomach. He kissed her over and over on the spot he had hit, begging her forgiveness, promising it would never happen again.

She believed him. It was just an accident. Everything was fine.

Then they got into another argument a few weeks later and it happened again.

Again the tearful apology. The promises. Again she believed it was just an accident. It would never happen again.

The next time she fought back. He didn't stop. It escalated. She tried to leave.

She reached for the bedroom door. She was pulled back. He was over her, on the floor. The look in his eyes was the scariest thing she had ever seen. She waited for him to hit her again, but he didn't. He reached for her skirt. She screamed and pushed him, but she couldn't stop it. Eventually she stopped fighting and waited for it to be over.

He got up and walked out of the room, leaving her on the floor. She was too stunned to move.

The next morning he had acted like nothing happened. She would have thought she dreamed it of it wasn't for the blood on the inside of her thighs, the finger shaped bruises all over her body.

She knew she should leave, but she couldn't. Something was keeping her locked in place. She was so afraid of what would happen if she tried to leave. The whole world would come crumbling down.

As it got worse and more frequent she became more secluded. He had slowly burned her bridges, making it harder for her to ask anyone for help. She was all alone in this, no one would understand. Would they even believe her? Everyone loved him. Even her mother loved him.

She stopped talking to all her friends, afraid of how they would judge her if they found out. She avoided her mother as much as possible, anything to keep her from finding out. She was so strong, the town Sheriff. Caroline was embarrassed that she couldn't be as strong. Her mother could never find out.

Stefan kept asking her what was going on. She couldn't tell him. It was his brother. It wasn't fair to tell him.

It escalated every time. The bruises became harder to explain. She missed more and more days of school. There was the hospital visit for the broken ribs. She said she had fallen down some stairs but the doctors gave her a look that said they knew she was lying.

One night Elena barreled in to the Salvatore house. Caroline hadn't spoken to her or anyone in months.

"What's going on, Care? You don't pick up your phone, you're not in school half the time, Stefan says he hears yelling every night."

She tries to dodge it, but Elena rips the cardigan she's wearing off, exposing the bruises all over Caroline's back.

"He did this, didn't he?"

"Elena, please, don't tell anyone. Don't tell Stefan."

"Why are you protecting him? How can you stay here? There is nothing good about Damon. I hate him. He's a monster. You have to leave now."

"I just can't" She whispered, frozen in place.

Elena left, shaking her head.

He stepped into the room. He had heard every word Elena said. It was the worst thing that could have happened.

One look at him and she knew it would be the worst yet. He was full of fury, at her. He blamed her for Elena hating him, he was consumed by it. Dating Caroline was only a ploy to make Elena jealous. It had all backfired and now he was going to make Caroline pay.

She didn't bother trying to run. She could never get away. The first hit knocked her to the ground. The second one blurred her vision and made the room spin. He wasn't going to stop. She screamed for Stefan even though she knew he wasn't home. Another hit and she felt a bone snap. The pain was enough to make her black out.

She woke up hours later, the sound of Matt's pick up truck pulling over on the side of the road. She tasted dirt and grass mixed with blood in her mouth. She had no idea how long she had been in the ditch or how she got there. He must have thought he killed her and tried to get rid of the body. She was trash to him. Disposable.

The look on Matt's face when he ran over to her made it even worse. She didn't want to have to explain to her sweet ex-boyfriend, her high school sweetheart, just what the guy she dated after him had done. Matt would blame himself. He was the one to end things between them, and while they were friendly, he would still hate that she was only with Damon because they broke up.

Tyler was there too. Caroline only knew him as Matt's friend. He must have been in the truck with Matt when they spotted the bloodied body along the side of the road.

Tyler and Matt carried her to the car and drove her to Matt's house when she refused to go to the hospital. They tried, but she begged and pleaded, too embarrassed for anyone else to know. She didn't want to have to explain it, at least not right away.

Tyler was helping her rinse off her cuts while Matt looked for a first aid kit. She was resting on the bathroom counter as he dabbed the blood off her face. She caught him looking at the trail of dried blood that ran down the inside of one of her legs, and the rip in her skirt.

"Caroline?" He asked, his voice shaking.

She just nodded.

Tyler wasn't the type to talk more than necessary. He understood and wasn't going to make her say it. He just held on to her and let her cry.

"Don't tell Matt." She whispered. "He doesn't need to know."

It was unexpected, the way he understood exactly what she needed. If she didn't want Matt to know about that part, he would keep it secret for her. He kissed her forehead and helped her down, ran the bath, gave her some time alone to soak but stayed right outside the door the whole time. It was the first time she saw how great he was.

The two of them spent all night taking care of her. She finally felt safe again. They wouldn't let him hurt her again. It was all finally over.

She drifted in and out of sleep. She could hear them talking, trying to figure out how to help her.

At one point in the night she woke up and Tyler was there with her, on the floor next to the couch she was on. He held her hand for hours while she tried to sleep. He promised to never let Damon hurt her again. He would protect her.

"Why?" She had asked.

"Because I care about you."

Tyler brought her back into the world, out of the hole she had buried herself in when she was trying to hide what was happening to her. He was patient, kind, protective. Over the next few months he would get her to find herself again. But for that night, he was someone who cared about her and wanted to keep her safe. It was something she forgot she could have. It was something he reminded her she deserved.

In the morning Tyler and Matt went to class and work and she stayed home, sleeping on Matt's couch. She thought it was all over. She let herself fall asleep.

He came back. He was in Matt's living room, hovering over her.

"You were supposed to be dead."

She couldn't stop it. He was pulling her out of Matt's house, dragging her to wherever he was going to finish her off.

He dragged her thought the streets, she tried to scream, but no one was around. She kept waiting to go into shock, for it to not hurt so much, but she felt every hit. He twisted her arm until something popped and she felt a shock of pain. She was slammed to the ground and his boot was pressed against her neck. He lifted it up and she knew he was going to crush her face.

Then a shot rang out.

* * *

Klaus was awake, if only barely. They had another hour before the tide went out enough. He had fallen asleep for a bit but now he wanted to stay awake, enjoy every minute he had left of this. He doubted he would get another chance to convince her to curl her body around his like this. He was going to savor every moment of it.

She was stirring a bit in her sleep. The arms she had around him pulled tighter, and he saw her eyes moving beneath her her eyelids. She was having some kind of dream.

"Damon." She murmured.

He wondered if Damon was her boyfriend. She didn't mention having one, but he hadn't exactly asked. Of course she had a boyfriend. Why had he assumed she wouldn't?

"Damon, no." She whispered.

He watched her face contort in terror as she curled tighter against him. It didn't sound like a good dream. He stayed still, his hands still pressed against her back, waiting, unsure of what to do.

"Please don't."

He slowly moved his hands away, trying to think of the most gentle way to wake her up.

She let out a whimper, and he saw tears leaking out from under her closed eyes. He felt her tense up and flinch. It was like someone was hurting her.

He hesitantly moved his hand to her face, lightly touching the side of her cheek, hoping to wake her.

She screamed.

Klaus jolted at the sound of a scream so close. He saw her eyes fly open in terror as she pulled away from him, stumbling back on the beach. She was breathing heavily, hands covering her face.

He rushed over to her and she flinched when he touched her, but she slowly moved her hands away from her face and when she looked at him, he swore he saw relief. She was relieved to see him in front of her instead of whatever was in her nightmare.

"Caroline, it's ok. It's me, you're safe."

She looked at him, shocked. The relief he had first seen melted away and she was apprehensive again, inching away, protecting herself from him as if she expected him to attack.

He never regretted any of it, the things he had done. But he did regret her finding out about it. He wished she didn't know to be afraid of him. He wished she could believe what he was saying.

"Who is Damon?" he asked.

She shook her head, not wanting to talk about it.

"Caroline, I heard his name. Who is he? What did he do to you?"

"I promised I wouldn't lie to you."

"Then tell me."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Did he hurt you?"

She cringed and looked down. She pulled her knees up against her chest and hugged her arms around her legs. He recognized the gesture. It was the same thing his mother did all those years ago, every time he went to check on her after Mikael had left. He was too little to stop it from happening, but he would find her after. She would be in bed, blood on the sheets. She would be sitting there, just like Caroline was sitting now, knees pulled up, arms around her legs. He would sit there next to her in silence. He memorized the hollow look on her face, the bruises she was covered in, the smears of blood. He sat next to her and let his hatred for his stepfather grow as he offered his mother feeble comfort. At the time, he was too small to do anything about it. There had been times where he tried to intervene, only to earn his own punishment. Mikael never raised a hand to his own flesh and blood, but Niklaus was no son of his. The roadmap of scars on his back served as a memory of the punishments he collected trying to protect his mother.

"Caroline, what did he do?"

She looked at him, biting her lip, not wanting to say it out loud.

He reached out to her and she flinched a bit.

He pulled his hand back and looked her over.

"He raped you?"

She nodded.

He was furious. How could anyone hurt her? And to do the worst, most sadistic thing possible? Years of growing up, seeing Ester in the hell of Mikael's home had made him gut twistingly aware of the specifics. He wanted to destroy whoever it was. This Damon had quickly become his first priority after Kol picked him up. He would find out who he was, make sure he suffered.

"Who is he?" He asked.

"Why do you want know? So you can use it against me? Do you get some sick joy out of making me say it?"

"No! I'm just trying to understand."

"Understand what? Does it bruise your ego to know that someone else already made my life hell? That you don't fucking scare me after what I've been though?"

He reached towards her but she slapped his hand and moved away.

"Don't touch me." She glared.

He nodded and pushed his fingers down into the sand.

"You don't have to tell me what happened." He sighed. "I didn't mean to make it worse."

She couldn't look at him. She stayed curled up and looked down, away from him. It was too embarrassing to admit while looking at him, but she didn't want to keep it hidden anymore.

"He was my boyfriend, a few years ago. He was so angry all the time, always at me. I should have left the first time he hit me, but I stayed. I was sure it was just a mistake. I couldn't talk to anyone about it and eventually I couldn't find a way to talk to anyone at all. He was all I had, so I stayed, and it kept happening. It kept getting worse. Then he wasn't just hitting me. I couldn't get away. Then one time he lost it, and he thought he killed me. He dumped me in a ditch. My friends found me and took care of me. When he found out I was still alive he came after me and almost killed me."

"What happened?"

"My, um, my friend came home early and saw him. He shot him just as Damon was about to cave my face in with a steel toed boot."

"Is he dead now?" Klaus asked.

"No, he didn't kill him. He went to the hospital and I decided not to press charges if he got help and he promised not to retaliate against Ty for saving me. Damon went away for a few months and he has a doctor now and he takes medicine and he doesn't drink as much. He's better. He won't hurt anyone else."

"That's not good enough. He hurt you."

"Why do you care? You don't know me, and you don't have a problem hurting people."

"I know someone who was in a very similar position. I watched her go through it for years before I was able to put an end to it."

"You don't have to put an end to anything when it comes to me. It all ended that day that Ty stepped in. That was years ago. Damon got help. We're on good terms now."

"On good terms? Are you joking?"

"You think I'm weak for forgiving him? For letting it happen more than once? I know exactly what you think, because everyone thinks so. Well fuck you. You have no idea what I've been though and you don't get to judge me for this. You don't know anything about me."

He shook his head. "I don't think you're weak. I think you're the exact opposite. But I'm still going to kill him."

"Why?"

"WHY? Because it doesn't matter if you forgive him or if he's changed. He did that to you and I'm not going to let him get away with it. He should at the very least be rotting away in jail, but because he's not, I'm going to take justice into my own hands."

"You don't have to do that."

"Does this Damon have a last name?"

"I'm not telling you."

"That's fine. I'll figure it out on my own."

"Please. His brother is my friend. I've moved on. He's better. I don't want to him to get hurt."

"Then perhaps he shouldn't have hurt you."

She moved closer, cupping her hands on either side of his face. He relaxed at the feeling of it, letting her distract him from the fury building inside.

"Please. Please let this go."

"I can't. How can you expect me to let it go, knowing someone did that to you, and that they're still alive?"

"I'm fine. He'll never hurt me again. He got help. He's a different person now."

"You're not fine. You were having a nightmare."

"Maybe I'll have one about the plane crash the next time I fall asleep." She challenged.

He wanted to protect her, it wasn't fair that she had been though so much. All of that, and now he shows up and makes things worse. She was covered in scrapes and bruises from the plane crash, she was dirty and hungry and tired and it was all his fault. He was dragging her through a maze that his family had set out for him. He had been doing things like this all his life. It was probably overwhelming to her.

She was holding his face, looking at him, begging him not to hurt the vile man who had attacked her multiple times. Klaus looked back at her. He wanted to keep her safe, and he wanted to make her happy. He couldn't do both in this case. Killing the man was paramount to her safety but not her happiness.

Damon. He hated the very name. It was a terrible name for terrible men. The only Damon he'd ever known was that wretched council member Damon Salvatore. He had gotten into more than his share of scrapes with that bastard. But now it seemed he had another Damon to hate. Whoever the Damon who hurt her was, he wouldn't be breathing much longer. He would have to get more details out of her. Where did she live, where did she work? He could start there, it sounded like the Damon she was talking about probably still lived near her. He had a brother she was friends with. That would make it a bit easier. He wished he took her purse along when he grabbed her from the plane. It would be a lot easier if he could rummage through her phone, look at her driver's license. He didn't even know her last name.

"Please. I didn't tell you so you would do something about it. I don't want you to do anything. Just let it go." She said.

He glared out at the ocean, looking for something to fix his anger on. Visions of beating this Damon character to death were dancing behind his eyes and he didn't want her to see that the rage was still there. He would do it so slowly, really make sure that vile, horrible man felt as much pain as possible.

"The tide's out." He said. "We should get going."

She looked out at the ocean and back to him. He had calmed down a bit. She didn't understand why he was so angry about it. It had nothing to do with him.

He looked out at the ocean that was in front of them and seemed to find something. He turned back to her.

"I need you to trust me. I'm going to ask you to do something that seems a little crazy."

"Trust you." She laughed.

It was such a farce, him asking. She knew he would make her do whatever needed to be done. He didn't need her trust. She was lost here without him, he was her only chance of survival. Of course she would do what he said. But that didn't mean she trusted him.

He felt like she stuck a dagger in his heart. The way she laughed when he asked for her trust, as if it was the most preposterous thing she had ever heard. Of course she wouldn't be very trusting after what she had been through, after someone she cared about had abused and beater her, had nearly killed her. And to trust him, of all people? She knew what he was. Why would she ever trust him?

He wanted to pull her close and promise her that he deserved her trust. _Yes, I know I'm bad, but I won't be bad to you. Please believe me. I don't feel this way about anyone, I never have. I need you to feel something too. Let me fix it, I'll fix everything and give you whatever you want, just please trust me. _

He couldn't say it. The words caught in his throat. She wouldn't buy it anyway.

"I'm not like him. I won't do what he did." He said. It was the best he could muster.

She laughed. It caught him off guard, to see her laughing.

"You know what, I think that was one of the first things you said to me." She said "You murder and torture and blow up planes, but oh no, you're no rapist, that's where you draw the line."

"Everyone has standards." He said quietly.

She shook her head. "It's funny. My perfect boyfriend, upstanding citizen, says he loves me, overall great guy. He attacked me over and over again. There were seven times it escalated to rape. Seven. And every time it happened, he just acted like everything was normal the next day. Like he thought he could make me forget. Then there's Ty. He saved me from Damon, we fell in love. He was amazing. But then he goes oversees to study, and I surprise him with a visit. That's why I was on the plane. He's been with someone else the whole time he was away. He lied to me for months."

"You failed to mention that you were spoken for."

"I'm not. Not anymore."

"You ended things?" He asked.

She nodded, then continued. "Then there's you. You're admitting to murder and torture. You blew up a plane, killing innocent people. The only reason you saved me was because you wanted to fuck me. But here you are, and you're taking care of me, and listening to me talk about things most people wouldn't want to hear. I don't know why I told you. Why do you make me feel like I can tell you things? And even... when I was tired, you let me sleep on top of you so I wouldn't be too afraid of you leaving to fall asleep."

"That last one wasn't much of a sacrifice, love."

"I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes you see the good first, and then the bad. With you, it was kind of backwards. I'm still not buying this whole nice act. I'm sure you're just doing it to get something out of me. You just want me to fall for your traps, sleep with you, play into your little games. Then I'm dead before your brother arrives. But on the off chance that you said you weren't lying when you said you would keep me alive, I'm willing to play along."

"Does that mean you'll trust me?"

"No. But I'll go with you."

* * *

Liz Forbes looked out on the front porch. Her ex husband shifted nervously, waiting for the door to open.

"Bill. Come in." She said quietly.

He stepped inside. It had been years since he was in this house. They had a cordial relationship, but they kept their distance. They were both involved in the Council, but she stayed near the Mystic Falls headquarters and he was usually working on the west coast.

She told him he needed to come to her, that the news was urgent. She couldn't tell him over the phone.

"I expected to see you in better spirits. They haven't produced a body yet, but it was confirmed. He's dead."

"Bill..."

"Niklaus Mikaelson, Liz! The Wolf! Haven't you seen the scars on Logan Fell? The stories Damon Salvatore has about him? I thought it was an inside job, but no one on the council is taking credit for it. It's just luck."

"Bill, please." She whispered.

"Liz, what is it?"

"Caroline went to visit Tyler at his school."

"She's still with that one? I would have thought she'd move on to someone a little older by now, boys her age aren't going to challenge her."

"I got a call from her friend Bonnie, she left early, took a red eye out of Johannesburg. Bonnie found her a cheap seat on a flight that was transporting a prisoner."

His mouth flew open. It couldn't be. Not her, not his little girl. She was his angel, the one thing that stayed pure and light amidst all the darkness. For years he had been begging Liz to just never tell Caroline about the Council, to let her continue her life without knowing. But Liz had insisted it was Caroline's birthright to know. And there were only two years left before she was old enough.

"It can't be." He gasped.

"She was on his flight." Liz choked out.

"No."

"She's gone, Bill."

He crumpled to the floor, sobbing, begging her to tell him it wasn't true. It wasn't fair. Not her.

Liz couldn't do anything. She sunk to the floor next to him and cried.

* * *

Caroline was standing at the edge of the ocean, thousands of miles away from everyone she knew. The man standing next to her was probably going to kill her at some point. But what choice did she have?

He took off his shoes and held them in one hand and stepped into the water. She did the same.

"We're going to swim out a little bit, then we're going to go under. When I tell you to hold your breath, you take in as much air as you can and go underwater. I'll pull you where we need to go." He said.

"Ok." She nodded.

They swam out for a few minutes and he motioned for her to pause then looked around the water below him. She looked back at the island and it seemed so far away already. Her legs were starting to cramp up from treading water.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

She looked around. It seemed like there were some dark shapes deep in the water below them.

"I don't understand." She said, looking around.

"Do you trust me?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No. But I'll do it."

He took her hand. "Just hold on to me and hold your breath as long as possible. You're safe. I promise."

She held on tight to his hand.

He looked down at the shapes below them again.

"Ok, on three we go under. 1...2...3."

She gulped as much air as she could hold and plummeted underwater. She tried to see, but the salt water burned her eyes. He was pulling her deep under the water towards the dark shapes.

As they got deeper she started to see more details in the shapes. It looked like an underwater cave and he was pulling her into it.

The air was running out, and now she was surrounded by the darkness, letting him pull her along. She felt her lungs start to burn and the world seemed to be folding in on her as she swam through spaces that only got more dark and narrow.

It was complete blackness and she couldn't stand another moment without air. She was squeezing his hand with all the energy she had, terrified of drowning with him.

Then he was pulling her up and she gasped for air.

She was taking in big gulps of air, trying to move her breathing back to normal while treading water. He was still holding her hand, his other arm wrapped around her back. He was fine. He seemed like he had no trouble at all, as if this was something completely normal to him.

They were in some kind of underwater cave, and beyond the water they were swimming in was a dry tunnel that plunged into darkness. He pulled her out of the water and told her to stay put while he moved around in the dark. She sat on the damp ground, looking out at the almost complete darkness. There were only little fragments of lights that came through from the water. Once he was a few steps away she couldn't see him at all, only making out the sounds of his footsteps.

He was patting on the walls, she heard a few cracks as he snapped stalactites and stalagmites as he made his way though the cave, then there was a click and a beam of light shot through the cave, illuminating the jagged shapes around them.

He made his way over to her and set the flashlight at his side, checking her over.

"You ok?" He asked.

"Fine. How did you know where we were going? How did you know there would be a flashlight?"

"I knew the cave would be here because it's in the plans. And the flashlight, I put it there. Well, no, my sister put this one here I think, we have a lot of spots set up, hard to keep track of who set up which."

"You have a sister too? How many of you are there?"

"The less you know the better."

"That's not fair. After all the personal things I shared, you won't even tell me how many siblings you have?"

"Caroline." He said, his voice a warning. He was getting irritated and they were in a chilly cave in wet clothes. It was hard to be patient when you were cold and soggy.

"Niklaus." She replied, mocking his tone.

"You can call me Klaus."

"Oh, because we're friends now?" she replied sarcastically.

"No because I hate that name."

"You hate your own name?"

"Yes." He replied curtly.

"Why?"

"Because my father gave it to me."

"You two don't get along?"

"You ask far too many questions. And no, we didn't get along."

"Didn't?"

"He's dead now."

"Oh... I'm sorry." She said.

"I'm not." He shrugged. "Now lets get moving. There should be some dry clothes about a mile or two up."

"Clothes?" She asked hopefully. It was freezing in the cave and she was getting colder by the minute.

"And food." He smiled. "Of course, there's probably only one set of clothes, but I'll share."

She followed him as he walked purposely through the cave, taking a few different turns.

They hit what looked like a dead end and he felt along the wall until he found a few notches to fit his feet into and he climbed up onto the ledge. She tried to follow, but she kept slipping. He hopped back down and lifted her up so she reach, then pulled himself up a second time.

"I'm slowing you down." She muttered.

"I don't mind." He shrugged.

He was looking down the set of tunnels ahead of them, shining the flashlight along the narrow twists and turns of the caves.

"This way." He directed, and she followed.

He could hear her shivering and her teeth chattering as she walked behind him. It was getting colder and their clothes weren't getting any drier.

"You'll feel better if you just take them off." He suggested.

"I think all that would do is make you feel better." She retorted.

"Nonsense. It would be absolute torture." He replied.

"Excuse me?" She protested.

"I didn't mean it as an insult, love."

"Uh, you just basically said I'm horrible to look at, so..."

He laughed.

"What's so funny?" She demanded.

"You. You're adorable when you're all insulted and demanding. I meant it would be torture to see you and not be able to do any of the very long list of things I would like to do with you in your state of undress. A far cry from calling you horrible to look at."

"I'm ignoring that last comment. And you can't call me adorable. You can't even see me. I probably look like a drowned rat." She replied.

He turned around and waved the flashlight around, catching her in the light. He walked over to her and watched her tense up as he came within inches of her.

"Just as I thought, adorable." He smirked.

She rolled her eyes.

He clicked off the flashlight, leaving them in complete darkness.

"Klaus?" Her voice wavered.

He stayed very still, taking in the sounds of her breathing, so close to him. He could tell the darkness made her nervous, she couldn't tell where he was.

He took a few steps away from her. She panicked when she heard his footsteps move away.

"Klaus? This isn't funny."

"Still afraid I'm going to leave you behind?" He taunted.

"Just turn the flashlight back on."

"If you'd rather be on your own, by all means." He teased.

He knew she detested him, but at the same time, she was in a dark cave with no clue of how to get out. He had the only flashlight. She didn't want to admit it, but she needed him.

"Klaus, where are you?" She called out, letting a little worry show. He had a way of walking so that his footsteps were silent. She couldn't tell where he went.

"Right here." He whispered, reappearing right in front of her.

She gasped, not expecting him to be so close. Her hands flew out to find him and when she felt his shirt she pulled herself against him, holding on tight so he couldn't slip away into the darkness again.

He moved a hand around her waist, pulling her even closer. She was moving her hands around his back, holding on to him, pushing all of herself flush against him. He thought she might actually make a move, but his hopes were dashed away when she tried to pull at the flashlight he was holding.

He moved the hand holding it up out of her reach, still holding her tight against him with the other arm.

"Turn it back on!" She demanded.

"Not yet." He whispered.

Her hands found their way around his neck, pulling herself closer to him. She was wary of him, but more afraid of what would happen if he disappeared.

She felt his chin rest on the top of her head.

"It's always easier to say things in the dark, isn't it? To not have to see the way someone looks at you? I don't have to see the fear, or anger or revulsion you're probably showing right now."

She froze up. Her hands slowly left him, no longer finding comfort in holding him close. He had said he wouldn't, but she shouldn't have believed him. She felt a single tear slip as she prepared herself for it to happen again. He was even bigger than Damon, she didn't stand a chance in fighting him off. He wasn't so different from Damon after all. He had dragged her into the dark so he wouldn't have to see the pain in her eyes as he did it. Coward.

She braced herself for it, but he didn't move. He just moved his face to the side of her head, whispering his confession into her hair.

"I'm consumed by thoughts of you. I want to destroy everyone who's ever wronged you almost as much as I want to have you. I'll find a way for you to fit. I don't care about the family words. They won't be pleased, but I won't allow you to be taken away from me. I can keep you safe."

The soft words barely registered with her as she braced herself, waiting for a hand around her neck, over her mouth, for the push to the ground, the hands on her knees, pushing unwilling legs apart. She felt his hand slide along the side of her face and she shuddered with revulsion. _Just do it already, stop drawing this out_.

"I don't think I could have said that in the light." He whispered.

His hand brushed against the side of her face, smearing tears across his palm.

She felt him tense up. This was it. He was going to lunge now.

"Caroline?" He asked. "Are you..."

He flicked on the flashlight and shone it at her side so he could see her, but she wasn't blinded by it.

"You're... Why are you crying?"

She was looking away from him, holding her body tense as if she was waiting for an attack.

He felt a wave of nausea roll through his body. The sight of her so afraid was unbearable, even worse because her fear was directed at him. He felt like he had been kicked in the stomach, seeing her tears. It didn't make sense. The way she was holding herself was as if she was expecting him to spring at her at any given moment. Why did she think he was going to attack? She was starting to shake from clenching every muscle for so long.

Of course. He cursed himself. He should have known better. She had told him so much earlier that day on the beach. With her history, of course her mind would have gone there. Him, getting close in the darkness. What was she supposed to expect? How many times had she heard _I'm not going to hurt you_ right before it happened? It was still the worst thing he could have seen, her looking at him like that, crying, waiting for him to attack.

He looked at her. The way she held herself so tight, waiting for it, knowing from her own experience just how little she could do to stop him. _She thinks you're going to rape her. She thinks you're going to attack her right now and she won't be able to fight you off. _

"Caroline? Shit. I didn't mean to..."

She looked at him hesitantly. She was expecting anger, but he looked horrified.

"You thought I was about to...How could you think I would... Do you really think so low of me?"

"Yes." She whispered, looking away from him.

He felt anger boiling inside him. Not at her, but at the people and situations that lead to her feeling this way. It wouldn't be easy to convince her that he wasn't the type of monster she was used to.

His hand reached out and she jumped a bit, thinking he was going to choke her. Instead he handed her the flashlight.

She looked down at the flashlight in her hands and then back at him.

"I will never do that. Never." He insisted.

She shook her head and wiped away the tears. "You said before. You're in charge here. I just have to shut my mouth and do what you say."

"When it has to do with getting us out of here and to my brother, yes. You don't have a choice in that. It's my plan or you'll die out here and I will not let you die. But in regards to you and me, it will always be your choice. I won't do anything until you want me to."

She smiled hesitantly, and he felt himself break out in a stupid grin at the sight of her relaxing.

"Until?" She said. "You seem awful sure of yourself. What makes you so certain I'll fall for your tricks eventually?"

"No tricks" He smiled. "Just hope that I'll have a chance eventually."

She shook her head at his words, dismissing them. He wanted her to believe him, to trust him, but her being at ease was enough for now. She was walking down the pathway of the cave, occasionally glancing over at him to make sure he was close. He knew better than to try to get too close, he wouldn't get within arm's reach no matter how much he wanted to. She needed a little space. He would give her that and hope it would make her come closer to him of her own accord.

They reached a fork in the caves, two paths splitting out in front of them.

"Which way?" She asked.

He pointed to the left one.

She shone the flashlight out at the dark twisting path in front of her, then looked back at him, he was several steps behind her.

"Do you want me to go in front?" He offered.

She nodded nervously.

He stepped in front of her, taking a wide circle so not to get too close. He started down the path and she scurried behind him, holding out the flashlight so he could see.

As they walked down the path he listened to her footsteps behind him, occasionally glancing back to check on her. She started out walking ten paces behind him, but she kept edging closer. After a little while he felt her hand reach out and hold on the the back of his shirt as she followed him through the tunnels.

He turned around and she looked a little sheepish, unsure of if it was ok with him for her to be holding on. She let go and bit her lip.

He held out his hand to her.

To his surprise, she took it, lacing her fingers with his.

They walked further into the dark.

* * *

**A/N**

** A (longer than anticipated) note on this story's Damon, Tyler, Caroline and abusive relationships. **

**I'm sure some readers will have questions or issues about why I'm writing Caroline's relationship with Damon as abusive. This is an A/U story, but I try to keep most of the characters close to their personalities and traits on the show, just in a different world. I just want to make it clear that I like Damon as a character, think he's a lot of fun, but wanted to explore his darker sides in this story. Damon and Caroline's relationship in season one of TVD can absolutely be viewed as abusive, and considering she was compelled for most of it, the sex and biting are absolutely nonconsensual. Everything she does during the relationship is under the influence of his compulsion and he makes it clear he would kill her as soon as she was no longer of use to him. I'm exploring that theme here, along with the fact that season 3 Damon is very different than season 1 Damon. Over the course of the show he goes from a villain to a complex and endearing person. It is entirely possible that in a real world setting he could have gotten help and changed and received Caroline's forgiveness. It doesn't make what he did ok, or make it ok that he never was arrested for what he did, it only mean he's willing to change and be a better person. I hope those of you who are Damon fans can still enjoy this story.**

** I also want to note that while Caroline seems to blame herself for staying with him so long and she views herself as weak for not getting away, the victim is never to blame and none of it is her fault. That's just her character's point of view, not mine. And with Tyler, I believe he's a good guy who makes stupid mistakes. I think he really cares about Caroline, but lets his hormones get the best of him, thus the affair with Hayley. It's possible for him to really love her but be really really stupid and not realize how much he's hurt her by cheating. Yes, she was right to dump him, but that doesn't make him all bad. I wanted to show the good side of her relationship with Tyler in this chapter to explain why she fell for him in the first place. He's not perfect, but he's not a cartoon villain. On the show, he fell for her because of her compassion and loyalty when she helped him through the agonizing pain of his first werewolf transitions. In this story the roles at the beginning of their relationship are similar, but reversed. **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N **

**Wow! I'm blown away by all the reviews and support this story has gotten. Thank you all for reading. Please please keep leaving the reviews, they make me so happy. **

* * *

"It should be right here." He said, feeling along the cave wall. He tapped along the wall with the back of the flashlight. "I don't get it, it should be right-"

Crack.

The cave wall shattered, plaster painted to blend in cracking away and crumbling to reveal a little indent in the wall where a bunch of sealed plastic bags were hidden. He took them out and stacked them neatly along the ground.

She saw water bottles in one, a few medical supplies and lighters in another, clothing in the largest one, and one with a bunch of those gross plastic baggies of gel that marathon runners ate.

"Please tell me that's not the only food." She sighed.

"So sorry, princess, were you expecting something from a five star restaurant?"

"I was hoping for something I could chew at least."

"Well, soon enough we'll be out of here, and I'll take you wherever you want."

"Yeah right."

"Where should we have our victory dinner? I'm thinking Chile. In the vineyards, great steak, local wine..."

"Sounds great. You go to Chile, and I'll go to America. Where I live."

"Is my company not to your liking?" He teased, opening up the bags.

"I prefer being around my friends."

He handed her a water bottle and one of the pouches of gel. She looked at the label._ Strawberry flavored, my ass,_ she thought. But it was something, it was nutrients, and she hadn't eaten in days, so she tore the top off and slurped it down.

"Are we not friends?" He joked.

"My friends don't blow up airplanes."

"Do they share their clothes?" He asked, waving the clothing he had pulled out of the plastic bag in front of her.

"Give me that! I'm freezing!" She begged. Her clothes were still soaked through and getting itchy from the salt water.

He rummaged through the clothes. It was clearly one outfit, meant for a man. There was a pair of dark green pants that reminded her of something a solider would wear, a grey t-shirt, a black zip up hoodie, a sealed 3 pack of black boxer briefs, another of socks.

"Oh, did you want some of this?" He teased, holding up the clothes. "Now how are we going to split this up?"

"Klaus, you promised you would share!"

"And I will. How about, for every item of clothing you take off, I'll hand you one from the new pile."

"I'm not getting undressed in front of you."

"Right, feel free to use the changing rooms located in the, oh, hold on, we're in a cave."

"That doesn't mean you have to look!" She protested, laughing a little as she shoved him.

He smiled back at her. She was getting more comfortable around him. Still not enough for him to try anything, but he could joke with her about it.

"Well I could turn the flashlight off, but you might stumble and crack your skull on the floor."

"Will you just hand me some of that and turn around?" She asked.

"Fine." He sighed, flipping throughout he clothes. He opened up the packs of socks and underwear, taking one of each, and grabbed the pants. "Rest's yours." He offered.

"You're not taking a shirt?"

"You can have it." He shrugged.

She moved towards the pile, and was about to reach to scoop up some clothes when his wet shirt hit her in the face.

"Hey!" she laughed, flicking it back at him.

_Oh._ She thought. She hadn't seen him shirtless close up before. He was a work of art. She got lost staring at the hard lines etched in his torso, the broad muscles that enveloped his shoulders, a tattoo along the side of his ribs, script in a language she didn't know, another circling his left bicep. There were a few scars as well, she wondered if they had stories behind them, but she was too distracted by the overall view to think any further on it.

"Now who's looking?" He teased, and shrugged out of his pants, tossing them at her as well.

She swatted them away and pulled from the clothes in front of her, not wanting to risk looking over at him as he got changed.

"Don't even think about flinging your dirty underwear at me." She said, looking away.

"Would you return the favor if I did?" He joked.

She waited a minute, then hesitantly looked over at him. He was already in the new pants, shirtless, the top of the boxer briefs poking out where the pants sat low on his hips.

"Can you just turn around or something?" She asked.

"Fine, fine." He sighed.

She quickly scooped up a pair of the boxer briefs, she would need something on her lower half to cover the flimsy underwear that she was no way in hell taking off. After glancing over to make sure his back was turned, she stripped down to her bra and underwear and shrugged on the t- shirt, the boxer briefs, a pair of socks, and finally the hoodie.

He sat with his back to her. He could hear her pealing away layers, the first one hitting the ground with a slap. He tried really hard not to look, he did. But he couldn't help it. How much self control could be expected of one man? He looked over his shoulder and saw her in the glow of the flashlight, her back to him, in nothing but her bra and underwear. He watched as she pulled on the shirt and had to use all of his will power to turn around again before she noticed him. It was absolute torture. She was impossibly sexy, divine even. He had a feeling the image he had just witnessed would be replaying in his mind for a long time.

"Ok, done." She said.

He turned around to see her swimming in the hoodie, she had it unzipped so he could see the t-shirt that fell at mid thigh, just the bottom of the black boxer briefs poking out. He had hoped she would forgo those, allowing a possible glimpse of the red lace he knew was just underneath.

"Are you sure you don't want the sweatshirt?" She offered. "You'll get cold."

"I'm fine. Besides I have you to keep me warm."

"What?"

"We'll spend the night in here. I assume you want to sleep the same way as yesterday? Make sure I can't slip away when you're sleeping?"

"Oh." She responded. She had liked the feeling of being curled up against him, her head on his chest. But it all seemed too intimate. Too personal. And now his chest was very naked. "You don't have to, I'm sure it's not very comfortable for you."

"Never had a better night's sleep in my life." He lied.

In truth, it had been impossible to sleep much. He could smell her, feel her. He had spent hours looking at her, thinking of where he wanted to kiss her, how he wanted to slide his hands across her. He was acutely aware of the flexible way she curved her legs around him and began to run a list. He couldn't help but picture all the different possibilities. Her ankles on his shoulders, her standing in front of him bent over a table, her legs locked behind his back, her ass in his palms as he held her up against a wall. Of course that was always followed by trying to think of anything else before he had a problem on his hands. It had been a rather restless night.

He returned to the bags, finding something folded and silver that looked like a space blanket. He had his back to her as he rummaged through the items in front of him, flicking one of the lighters aimlessly, creating little sparks.

She was going to sit next to him, have a little more from the water bottle, when the spark lit up the room and she noticed something. His back looked odd in the glow of the sparks that came from the lighter. There were marks all over it. She inched closer and discovered deep jagged scars going in every direction.

Without thinking, she reached out and touched him, tracing her hand along the raised scars. There were so many, and they were all over. She didn't know why, but she felt like comforting him after seeing them. He was a monster, sure, but he was keeping her alive.

He hesitantly looked back at her, caught her concerned eyes as she traced the shapes. Sometimes he forgot about what it looked like, what was there. He wouldn't have let her see it if he had remembered. He didn't want her sympathy, and she'd only find him more repulsive.

"Oh" She pulled her hand away as he looked at her. "Sorry... I don't know why I ...I shouldn't have." She flinced a bit as if she was expecting him to hit her for touching without permission.

"No, it's nice." He said. _More than nice_, he thought. His brain was shutting down from the feeling of her hands on his skin. She was touching him. Because she wanted to.

She exhaled and carefully put her fingertips on his back again, trailing along the raised crooked lines that scattered in all directions.

"Does it hurt?" She asked.

"No. Not at all. Lots of nerve damage, I can barely feel it."

She flattened her palm against his back, using a little more pressure to make little circles.

"Now?" she checked again, worried. They looked so painful.

He opened the eyed he didn't even know he had closed. He had been a bit lost in the unexpected feeling of her hands on him. The pain from the scars was long gone, but it was endearing how careful she was. She was worried about hurting him? As if she could.

"Keep doing that and I'm never going to want to return you to your friends." He murmured.

"What happened?" She asked, ignoring yet another suggestive comment from him..

"It was a long time ago." He said.

"Did someone do this to you? Who?"

"Caroline, I don't know why you're pretending to care."

"I'm not pretending. I want to know."

"Why? You obviously think I'm a horrible person, you'll never trust me, why bother getting to know me? And why start with messy stuff anyway?"

"Klaus, I didn't mean to-"

"I was a child, ok? I grew up and when I was big enough, I killed him. No one can hurt me. I'm not weak."

"I never thought you were."

He turned to face her, making her hand lose contact with his back. She saw pain in his eyes, pain at the memory attached to whatever it was. She inched closer to him sitting on her knees next to him. Hesitantly she reached out and moved one hand down his back, softly stroking over the lines and bumps she felt.

His eyes fluttered closed at the feeling.

"Your father?" She asked.

His eyes opened.

"You said you didn't get along and that he's dead now. He did this?"

"Technically he was my stepfather. I never met my father by blood."

"How could he do this to you? You were a child."

"I'm surprised you're not focusing on the part where I killed him."

"After what he did..." She trailed off. She was surprised by the surge of empathy she felt. His own father. There was so much hurt in his eyes. He was as broken as she was. How had she not seen it before?

"No." He protested. "I didn't kill him because of me. I did it for family."

"You what?"

"I didn't care that he hated me or that he did this. Knives and that whip with the glass pieces on the ends. I can take it. Better me than anyone else. Better to get his energy out on me so he couldn't use it on her. But he was destroying her. He would have killed her."

"Who?"

"My mother." He said quietly.

It was hard to even remember how fragile and broken she was for those years. She was so strong now. She ran the operation. She was one of the most feared people in the world. Yet when he was sixteen and finally big enough to take out Mikael, she was so frail and empty. Pregnant with Henrick and in constant fear of her own husband, of the world the new baby was going to be born into. She didn't get her life back until he took Mikael's.

He looked back at Caroline, looking for indications of her judgement. For signs that she thought he was weak for caring, that he was repulsive for what he had done. The snide remarks should be rolling off her tongue by now.

Instead she surprised him. She inched closer slowly, then she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him.

He quickly responded, wrapping his arms around her back and puling her in, not wanting it to end. She nuzzled her head next to his and he could feel her hands moving up and down his back, fingers tracing the deepest scars, where whips and jagged glass had dug out too many layers of skin for it to ever fully recover. She was touching the ugliest parts of him like she wasn't digusted by him, who he was. Sure other women had noticed before, but he always said he fell through a glass table when he was younger. None of them ever knew the truth. He wouldn't expect anyone to know and still want to touch him.

His heart was beating faster, wanting so much to intensify the moment, take her lips with his, but not wanting to risk going too far and ruining it. He wanted her to keep touching him, her hands against his bare skin.

"He did this to you because you were protecting your mother?" She asked.

"I tried. I was too small to stop him. Once I was big enough, I made sure he would never touch her again."

"How old were you?"

"Sixteen."

She moved away a little, looking up at his face. She tried to imagine it, what it would be like to have to handle so much at such a young age.

He couldn't read the way she was looking at him. It made him wonder if he should have just shut up about the whole thing. He wasn't one for talking about feelings or things in the past, but something made him want to be open with her. He wanted her to understand who he was. It wouldn't be real any other way.

"You probably think even worse of me now, knowing I've been this horrible since such a young age." He mumbled.

She tilted her head, looking over his defeated expression. It was a far cry from the cocky grins and intimidating stares she had come to expect from him.

"No, just the opposite." She said quietly.

She traced her finger over one of the scars on his back that snaked over his shoulder and came forward a bit. Then she moved her hand down the side of his chest.

His breath hitched, and he had to use every ounce of self control to stay still. Let her test the waters, don't pounce on her. Her hands felt so good. Didn't she know what she was doing?

"What does this mean?" She asked, tracing over the tattoo on his ribs. She didn't recognize the words, something that started with an S, was it Latin?

"It means blood for blood."

"Oh." She said, feeling a little nervous about the sinister inscription.

"I got it because it means two things, that I'll do anything to protect my family, my blood. The second meaning is that if someone comes after me, if they draw blood on me, I'll have theirs."

"Family and revenge, thats what you care about?"

"Is there anything else?" He smirked.

"There's getting to enjoy the world around you, there's friendship and love. There's ice cream and dancing."

"I don't usually have the luxury to enjoy such things. There are certain responsibilities, things expected of me by my family. I can't turn my back on that."

"What you do, you were born into it?" She asked.

He nodded. "It's the family business. Mikaelsons have been ruling the shadows for centuries. I do whatever needs to be done for the good of the family."

"You never had a chance to be anything else." She said.

"I don't wish for anything else." He said.

It wasn't entirely true. His mind had wandered from time to time. A different life. Maybe he would be a sculptor or a carpenter. He liked the idea of building, creating things. Maybe have a wife and children. Someone he fell in love with, not some silly alliance marriage like Finn and Sage. Not a cruel joke of a marriage like Mikael and his mother. Something built on a real relationship. It was silly to dwell on it. But still, no one had ever acknowledged that the life he had was one that was chosen for him. He was a prince of the underworld. He had power and wealth and the fearful loyalty of many, but it was never his choice.

"And this one?" she asked, tracing her finger along his arm.

There was a wolf that stretched across his bicep, drawn in a way that reminded her of the ancient drawings on cave walls. Nordic runes completed the circle on the inside of his arm.

"My mother calls me her wolf. The name stuck, it seems. My enemies seem to like using it. I heard the police call me the wolf back in Johannesburg."

"Do most police officers know who you are?"

"I'm wanted in a lot of places. It depends on the area I suppose. I was fine in South Africa for months. It wasn't until I was captured and they scanned me into the computers that they figured out who I was. I can usually fly under the radar unless I'm in a city where I'm already wanted."

"My mom's a cop." she said "I wonder if she would recognize you."

"Thinking about introducing me to your parents already? I didn't realize we were that serious." He joked.

She just shook her head and continued tracing lines on his skin, circling the tattoos and scars.

He watched her, enthralled by it. It was more than he could have possible hoped for. Her hands on his skin combined with the way she looked at him. Like she didn't hate him at all. Like she wanted to comfort him. If only he could stay in this moment forever. She was skittish, careful. Eventually she would back away, go back to being wary of him. This was just a temporary heaven he didn't feel he deserved.

He caught her try to hide a yawn.

"Sleepy?" He asked.

She nodded.

He looked around for the flattest part of the cave floor he could find, it was all cold and bumpy. He lowered himself down and motioned for her to join him. She hesitated for a moment, but she slowly got down to the ground and curled against his side, letting him loop and arm around her as her head rested on his chest. She shivered from the cold ground below them and he reached for the thin silver blanket, shaking it out and wrapping it around her.

She shook her head and pulled it off, instead opting to wrap it around both of them, snuggling closer to him.

"Goodnight, love." He said quietly, but she was already fast asleep.

* * *

A shot to the head and two in the center of the chest.

Kol looked over the target and nodded in approval.

"Nice work, Jer, but the heart is a little to the left."

"I would have killed him anyway" Jeremy protested, gesturing to the shot in the head.

"Yeah, you're getting better." Kol nodded. "Reload, there's time for a few more shots before the others get here."

Jeremy did as he was told and reloaded the pistol.

"When do I get to use that?" He motioned towards the crossbow.

Kol smiled and walked over to the target. He drew a tiny red x over where the person's heart would be.

"When you can hit that from 500 feet, I'll give you a new toy to play with."

Tyler and Hayley were walking over to them, joined by another two young men.

"Ready to sail the open seas?" Kol joked.

"Gilbert?" Tyler said, looking Jeremy up and down.

"Lockwood." Jeremy responded.

"Oh good, you two met." Kol responded.

"What are you doing here?" Tyler asked. He had thought he was the only one from Mystic Falls who was working with the Mikaelsons.

"I could ask you the same." Jeremy responded.

Jeremy had taken Kol up on his offer out of hatred for Damon Salvatore. His buddy Matt had told him what Damon had done to Caroline Forbes when they were dating. It was something that came up one night working at the grill when the place was dead. From that moment on, Jeremy saw something behind Damon's eyes that made him uneasy. Damon claimed to be a changed man but Jeremy wasn't convinced. When he noticed Damon getting too close to Elena, Jeremy stepped in, told him to stay away. It had ended in a fistfight and his sister choosing to give Damon a chance. When Kol stumbled into his life and offered to train him it was the easiest decision he ever made.

"My boss is stranded. I'm here to get him." Tyler said curtly.

"Your boss? I thought you were in grad school." Jeremy said.

"And what do you tell your family you're doing now?" Tyler retorted.

Kol motioned towards Tyler, explaining it to Jeremy. "Lockwood's a bit of a pet project for Niklaus. Has he made a wolf of you yet, Lockwood?"

Tyler just glared and moved closer to Hayley, who noticed the tension and decided to put her arm around him as a show of support.

"I thought you were dating Caroline Forbes." Jeremy said, looking the two of them up and down.

"Not anymore." Tyler replied curtly.

"Well now that we all know each other." Kol said. "Let's get moving, shall we?"

They packed the supplies on the boat, and Kol paused to pick up his phone.

"Yes mother. No mother. Of course, mother. I'll call you again once we have cell reception. I'm sure he's fine, mother. You too. Bye."

"Wow, someone's got you on a tight leash." Jeremy joked.

"Just wait until you meet the boss lady yourself, she's pants-crappingly frightening." Kol said.

"I'll bring a spare pair of underpants." Jeremy laughed.

Tyler jumped up on the boat and offered a hand to Hayley, pulling her up behind him. They checked to make sure they had all the bags they needed on deck.

"Is it ok if I drive?" Hayley offered.

"I love it when a woman takes charge." Kol smirked, eying her hand on the gearstick. "I'll navigate."

* * *

Caroline woke up in pitch blackness, on a cold hard floor. Someone was holding on to her, two strong arms were wrapped tightly around her and her face was pressed against a bare chest.

She felt a flood of panic. Waking up in unfamiliar places triggered the memory of waking up in that ditch.

Then she remembered. Klaus. Everything was fine. She was starting to believe that he really wouldn't hurt her.

Of course, that still left a lot of questions unanswered. He had promised to keep her safe, to not let his brothers hurt her when they came for the pickup, but where would that leave her? She knew better than to think he would just drop her off and let her get on with her life. She knew too much just knowing he was alive. And the conversation they had about his parents, the scars on his back? That was way too personal for him to say to someone he was planning on letting go back to their lives. He had to think she would go to the cops if he let her go.

She sighed and leaned into him, trying to fall back asleep. The ground below them was the most uncomfortable thing she'd ever slept on, but there was something about being tangled up with him that made it not so bad.

It would be so much easier to hate him if he could just stay still in one personality long enough. The glares and threats were becoming less common, but she was afraid of the gentler him just as much. She was afraid of getting used to it. It would only hurt more when he snapped. She had learned that much from her relationship with Damon.

But it was hard to resist. He was so gorgeous, strong. He kept her guessing. She never would have expected him to open up about his life the way he did. She wanted to know more, know everything about him. And the way he looked at her, it was so unlike what she was used to. He looked like a hungry wolf, the way he looked at her like he wanted to devour her. It made her feel powerful and desirable and nervous all at once. He was such an ass, though. The way he was so sure something would happen between them, that he could make her feel something. It made it impossible not to imagine if he could back up all his claims. She glanced up at those lips and tried not to imagine what they would feel like, but that made it even harder to shut the thoughts out. The warmth that spread over her, imagining his arms doing more than just wrap around her, it made her furious. She hated that he was right. She couldn't stop thinking about it. But she wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

The arm around her tightened as he stirred.

"Love?" He grumbled, slowly opening his eyes. "Are you awake?"

"I hate it when you call me that."

"But it suits you." He said, pulling her up so she was on top of him rather than at his side.

"Right now a shower and a cup of coffee would suit me."

He laughed.

"I'm glad my discomfort is so amusing to you." She snipped, pushing off of him and sitting up.

"Not at all, I would much prefer my princess to have all the comforts of the world."

"I'm not your anything."

"Not yet."

"Not ever."

"Stop pretending, love. You know I can always tell when you're lying."

She grunted out an annoyed noise and stood up, trying to find the flashlight in the darkness.

"You're thinking about it right now, aren't you?" He smirked.

"Is it so hard for you to believe that someone might actually not be interested? Are you so arrogant that you think everyone wants you?"

"Of course not. I'm sure there are plenty of women who aren't interested, but you aren't one of them."

"And how can you be so sure of that?"

"I'm good at reading people." He said.

She heard a click and a beam of light shot through the cave. He waved it at her and she took it from him.

"Is that something you learn in homeschooling for mafia kids?"

"My family's a little more refined than the mafia. And yes. I grew up with many private tutors who had unique skill sets.

"Meanwhile, I went to public school. Mark Twain novels and kickball. How exciting."

"We did the normal subjects as well." He smiled. "My mother would never stand for her children being uneducated. But it was more... Russian masters and Muay Thai.

"Muay Thai? I've heard of that. I want to learn more of that kind of stuff. My friend bought me some self defense classes after... After what happened. She thought it would make me feel better to be able to defend myself. But all it did was make me feel worse. Like if I had learned earlier, I might have been able to do something to stop it."

"It wouldn't have made a difference." He said softly.

"I could have stopped it." She protested.

"No." He said

"You don't think I'm tough enough?" She pouted.

"I think you could probably do some serious damage to someone you own size. But I'm assuming he was not your size. And besides, I don't understand where you're getting this ridiculous notion that it is somehow your responsibility to be able to defend yourself from rapists."

"My friends... when I told them about it, a lot of them asked what I did to stop it, why I didn't leave after the first time something happened, why I didn't scream loud enough for someone to hear. It made me doubt everything, wonder if it was somehow my fault because I didn't do enough to stop it."

"I don't like your friends, they sound terrible." He huffed.

"They're all I have. I'm not very close with either of my parents, my dad moved away, my mom's always working. I don't have any siblings. I just have my friends."

"You can do better." He said. "And as far as family goes, sometimes I wish mine wasn't so close. Having a ton of siblings constantly butting in to your life and asking for favors can be tedious."

"They're good friends." She said, not entirely believing it. "I've known them all my life."

"No, they're not." He protested. "Good friends wouldn't make you feel like you should have done anything different. Instead of buying you useless classes, they should have killed him for you. At the very least had him arrested."

She looked down, knowing he was right. Not about the murder, but about the types of friends they were. In her heart, she knew that they valued their own comfort above her well being. They hadn't handled the aftermath of the Damon situation very well.

"They're why I forgave him." She said.

His face darkened at her words, an anger brewing inside him. She called them friends? How could she be surrounded by such people? And to think she kept pestering him to bring her back to her friends, her life. He could give her a better one, he was certain of it.

"They wanted you to?"

"It would make everything easier. Damon and I have all the same friends. His brother is one of my best friends and he works with my mother. Once he got back in town, it became impossible not to run into him all the time. Our friends were constantly shuffling plans so we weren't together. It became such a mess. It was easier just to forgive him. To learn to be ok with him being around."

"I don't want you to go back to them." He said. "They keep putting you in the same room as that monster? They expect you to just accept it?"

"It's fine. It's better to just forgive people and move on."

"You haven't been able to move on. Let me kill him."

"No."

"Why not?"

"It would hurt people I care about."

"They don't deserve your mercy."

"I'm the one asking you for it." She pleaded.

He sighed. He wouldn't agree to it or continue fighting with her about it. It had to be done. The idea of her being surrounded by people who would choose their friendship with a rapist over her well being made him angry. The idea of that vile disgusting man being allowed in the same room as her made him even angrier. He would certainly be paying this Damon a visit.

"So tell me about these classes." He offered.

"What?" She asked.

"Those self defense classes. What were they like?"

"Picture a room full of freaked out soccer moms who saw some scary story on the local news and girls who were going away to college soon, plus me and a few girls who got robbed or mugged recently."

"Spandex?" He asked.

"No!" She laughed, shoving him. "I think I went in yoga pants and a baggy tee shirt."

"I was wondering about the soccer moms." He joked.

"Sure you were."

"Are you going to show me your moves?" He challenged.

"Oh, I have lots of moves." She said.

A little voice nagged in her head. _Caroline, what is wrong with you? Are you flirting with him? No. Shut it down._

"I don't doubt that sweetheart." He said.

He stood up and walked away from her, setting the flashlight on a rock to illuminate the area between them.

"Go on." He challenged. "Give it your best shot."

"You have to come at me." She said, shifting her weight between her feet. "But I don't know... They teach us to go for the weak spots... I could end up hurting you."

"I'm a professional." He said, feigning offense.

"Ok, ok. Umm, I guess, try to choke me?"

He shrugged and walked over to her.

She watched him intently as he slowly raised his arms and moved them towards her neck.

She grabbed his wrists at an odd angle and pulled.

He just looked at her, confused. Was she expecting something to happen?

She pouted and changed the angle she held his wrists at and pulled. Again, nothing. It was supposed to flip him. It had worked before. She had send the volunteer guy from class flying across the room.

"At least you didn't pay for the classes yourself." He shrugged.

"No. It worked. In class it made my partner twist funny and land on his back."

"I'm sure it did. Why don't you try something else?"

"Fine." She pouted. "Try to attack me again."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Surprise me. I'm not going to go as easy on you this time." She challenged.

"I like the sound of that" He murmured.

He took a few steps back and walked briskly towards her. His hand gripped her waist and he could almost see the list of weak spots to jab running through her head. She tried to poke his neck but he caught her wrist before she made contact.

He kept walking until she was backed against a wall.

She listed one foot to step on his, but he saw that one coming too. He caught her leg behind the knee and held it against his side so she couldn't complete her move.

She furrowed her brow, stumped as to what to do next.

"Some classes." He muttered. "What did they even teach you?"

"Mostly just _don't walk to your car alone at night _and _don't walk around with earphones in_. Very little actual useful stuff."

"I'm getting that." He smirked.

She felt herself lose her balance a little and his free hand caught her waist, holding her firmly against him. She was aware of the precarious situation she seemed to be in, her leg hooked around his side, him holding her close.

His thumb moved along her side and she felt like this skin under her shirt burned at the touch.

_Stupid. Stupid. You are not falling for this._

She caught him looking at her, searching her face for a sign.

_No. You will not think about kissing him. You will not think about kissing him. _

His hand on her leg shifted a little bit and she felt her head spin.

_Yeah, you're dizzy because you haven't had solid food in two days. Not because some hot guy's got his hand on your leg and all you can think about is him sliding it up a bit. No. No no no. He's not that hot. Really. He's not._

"Are you going to let me go?" She asked.

"What, no more moves from class?"

"It was stupid, I get it. False sense of security. Can you let me go now?"

"No big move? Give it another shot?" He suggested. He would let her think whatever she tried next would work, if it made her feel safe. Once he was home he could work on getting a security detail for her, maybe taking her out to teach her how to shoot, really any excuse to check in on her.

"Nothing." She grumbled. "Now let me go."

"Not until you give it another shot. I want to see more of these moves they're teaching you in these classes."

"So now I'm your hostage?"

"Did you want me to tie you up, sweetheart? Because that can be arranged. All you have to do is ask."

"If this is your attempt at seducing me, you're doing a terrible job." She said, shoving away from him and putting a few paces between them.

It was a lie, of course.

He knew it, she knew it.

"I could do a better job once we're back in civilization. Let me see, you're not the type for French restaurants and the opera. Extravagance makes you nervous, but you're still a hedonist at heart, as much as you try to pretend otherwise. You want to go dancing, slam tequila shots, to eat three desserts for dinner, to sneak into the elevator of some private office building to slip out on the roof for the view, and look out on the whole city and see everyone else seems so small. You want whispers in your ear when you're in public and kisses on your neck when you're alone. You want someone who takes charge without making you feel trapped or obligated. You don't want ordinary dates, you want adventures."

She wanted to kill him. He was dead on. Of course a night like that would make her putty in his hands.

"Is that about right, sweetheart? Or did I get it wrong? Are you more of a dinner and a movie type?"

"Just because I would like doing those things doesn't mean I would like doing them with you . Or that they would make me want to sleep with you."

"Back to the denial, I see."

"Hmmpft."

"Why don't you just tell me what you want? Be completely honest with yourself. I have a feeling whatever it is, I can comply."

She kicked the flashlight and bent down to pick it up. She flicked it on and shined it on him.

"I want you to get me out of this cave."

"Gladly. This is no place for someone like you. I much prefer you on the beach, with the sunlight dancing through your hair. We'll have most of the day in the sun and then we'll be on the boat by nightfall. "

"And then what? Your brother sweeps in, picks us up. What happens to me then?"

"I told you I would keep you safe."

"Safe as a prisoner."

"No, of course not."

"So you'll just let me go? Let me go home?"

"You know I can't do that. I need to keep up the illusion that everyone died on that plane."

"So what? I have to stay hidden forever?"

"Not forever, just until I get a chance to use the element of surprise."

"Then you'll let me go?"

He nodded. "You have my word."

"Even if I don't... If we don't..."

"No matter what. As soon as the secret's out, you're free."

"Good." she sighed.

"Although, by that point, maybe you won't want to be free of me." He smirked.

She shoved him playfully and he slung an arm around her shoulders, walking down the cave.

* * *

Elena and Stefan were sitting on his bed, going through old photographs. He would stop to ask her if she was ok or kiss her shoulder as she flipped though the photos, trying to find the best ones for the slideshow. She would just give him that sad smile that meant she wasn't ok but she didn't want to talk about it. Elena paused as she found one from a party a few years ago. They were dressed up and dancing at one of the founder's benefit galas. She was with Stefan and Caroline was with Damon.

Stefan caught the way she looked at the picture.

"Elena... I feel like we keep avoiding it, but eventually, we're going to have to talk about it."

"Not now, Stefan." She said. She knew he saw how her eyes went straight to Damon when she picked up the photo. She knew he had reasons to wonder. But it wasn't for today.

"I don't think we should use any of the pictures from when the two of them were together. That's not how I want to remember her." Stefan said.

"Has Tyler sent anything? He should be here for the funeral."

"He still hasn't returned any of my calls. I asked Bonnie. He hasn't returned her calls either."

"Bonnie said Caroline called her the day she got on the plane, she found him with someone else. That's why she was on that flight. Maybe he feels too guilty to deal with it."

"I didn't hear that part." Stefan mumbled. "I guess it makes sense. Still, he should be here."

"Be here to watch us bury an empty box? We don't even have a body."

"It'll help you feel some closure."

"No, it'll just make me feel more. It'll hurt all over again. I feel like I'm reliving my parent's funeral."

"Do you think that's why Jeremy hasn't shown up yet?" Stefan asked.

"Honestly, I think he's using again. He keeps disappearing for weeks at a time. He looks different. He acts so weird whenever I ask him what he's up to."

"The last time he was using he looked like he hadn't slept in days and he was too thin. When we saw him a few weeks ago, he looked healthy. Actually, he looked like he put on some muscle. Maybe it's something else."

"I hope so." Elena sighed. "I'm going to the kitchen to get some water. Want anything?"

"I'm good." Stefan sighed, flipping through more photographs. He was fixated on finding the perfect images for the slideshow.

When she closed the fridge she felt him standing behind her.

"Not cute, Damon." She muttered.

"What? I'm just trying to got a snack."

"I'm not in the mood." She huffed, shoving him as she walked past him to grab a glass.

"Hey, easy, tiger."

"Don't try to be funny. Not today."

"We all miss her." He said quietly.

"It was supposed to be me her and Bonnie. The three of us were going to grow up together, be bridesmaids in each other's weddings, have kids the same age. I can't imagine a life without her. The last thing I said to her..."

"The last thing you said to her was defending me." He said quietly. "You told her, didn't you?"

"I had to tell someone! I can't tell Stefan, we were on a break, but it would still crush him."

"So Caroline knows we kissed. Your last conversation with her was about kissing her.. her... me."

"She forgave you, Damon. She knows you worked hard to change. But she forgave you on the condition that you work to earn that forgiveness. That you never become that person again. She just worries about me getting close to you."

"She thought I would do the same to you."

"No, she knows, I mean, she knew you got better. We all know you're not that person now. But she was still worried. We looked out for each other."

"Do you think I shouldn't go to the funeral?"

"No, it would raise too many questions if you didn't. Only a few of us know about what happened between you and her. Her mother never knew, and you work with her. She would wonder why you skipped it."

"Elena..."

"Don't. You know I care about you. And I saw that you've worked really hard to not be the person you were with her. But still. Seeing all those old pictures of you and her together. It makes me remember everything. On top of losing her, I just can't deal with any more."

"We'll get through this." He said, reaching out to her.

"I have to get back to Stefan." She said quietly and walked away.

* * *

"Is that sunlight?" Caroline asked.

There was a bright white glow at the end of the tunnel of the cave, it started out as a tiny dot and got bigger as they walked though it. They had been walking all day and she couldn't wait to lay out in the sun, feel the warmth again.

Before he could answer she was sprinting down the cave towards the light. She ran until her chest burned, eager to get back into the world. She could hear footsteps behind her as he caught up, but she didn't care, she needed to get out of the cold darkness.

She stumbled out of the cave and felt grass under her feet. Looking around, it appeared to be a place very similar to the island they were on before. She could hear the ocean in the distance and birds chirping. Finally, she was out of that tomb.

She spun in a circle, smiling at the feeling of warm sun again.

"Don't wear yourself out, sweetheart, we've still got a lot of walking ahead of us."

Of course he would be a grump about it.

She could change that.

Caught up in her excitement about seeing the sun again, she grabbed him by the wrists and tried to get him to spin around in the grass with her. He begrudgingly let her yank him around as she jumped and squealed with excitement.

"I never want to go in another cave again, please tell me there's no more caves, doesn't the sun feel incredible?" She rambled on.

"No more caves." He promised as she tried to yank him around in another circle.

Instead of letting her lead (When has he ever let someone else lead?) he lifted her up by the waist and spun her around in the opposite direction.

"Oh!" she squeaked out, and when she felt her legs dangle as they left the ground, she locked them around his back. She felt his hands slid across her back, and he tilted her down and spun her around some more, making her grip onto him tighter so she wouldn't fall.

"Klaus! Put me down!" She giggled.

He stopped moving but didn't release her. She felt his forehead touch hers. It felt better than sunlight.

She stopped giggling. The energy had changed. Neither one of them was smiling anymore. A shiver went up her back despite the warmth that surrounded her.

He moved a piece of hair out of her face. He was looking at her, intense, careful, deliberate.

Danger signs flashed through her mind.

_He's going to kiss you he's going to kiss you he's going to kiss you._

She saw him tilt his chin forward a fraction of an inch. Testing the waters. He was so close, she could feel his breath on her face.

Why was he looking at her like that? Like she was _everything_. Like she was important. Like she was the antidote to the pain she knew he carried.

She couldn't be that. She couldn't be whatever he thought she was. She was just as broken. She couldn't fix him. He would end up destroying her. After Damon and Tyler, how much more could she take?

_No. Danger Danger Danger. _

He tilted forward a little more, holding on to her tighter. She felt the tip of his nose brush against hers. Almost there.

She flinched away, pulling her head as far from him as she could. It was an instant, protective reaction. She wouldn't let it happen. He was only going to tear her apart.

He carefully set her down on her own feet. He knew the moment was gone.

"Didn't you say we have a lot of walking left?" She managed to say, trying to keep her voice calm. She couldn't look at him as she spoke.

He just nodded.

She glanced over at him and saw hurt, longing. He buried it quickly, returning his face to the stone expression he wore when he didn't want anyone to see in.

She wanted to scream at him to stop looking at her like that. It was going to ruin everything. What did he expect from her? She just needed to get through this and get home.

"Ok then." She muttered, and started walking through the field in front of them.

"Caroline?"

God, that voice. Would she ever get used to it?

"Hmm?" She turned around.

He pointed in the opposite direction from the way she was walking.

"We're going this way, love." He smirked.

She grumbled under her breath about stupid pet names as she followed him on the next leg of their journey.


	6. Chapter 6

Caroline stepped through the brush and scurried after him. She was going as fast as her legs could take her but he was moving faster.

"We need to hurry." He called back, growing annoyed with her constant need for stops to catch her breath. "It's already noon." He pointed up at the sun in the center of the sky above them. "And we have a lot of ground to cover before nightfall."

"I can't go any faster."

"You're fine, just keep up."

She moved a little faster up the steep incline they were walking up. They were twisting through the woods and she heard birds chirping all around. The view was amazing, if only she could rest for a minute to enjoy it.

"Hand." He said, holding his out to her.

"Why?" She said warily.

"We're getting higher up, wouldn't want you trying anything like last time."

"Do I have a reason to?"

"Of course not."

"So tonight we'll meet your brother." She said cautiously.

"Unless he's late again. But I doubt he'll make the same mistake twice if he wants to keep all his organs in place."

"And he's going to want to kill me."

"Probably. But I won't let him."

"You seem awful certain that you can keep him from doing it."

"Sweetheart, Kol is a little runt. He does as I say and if he doesn't, he'll have a serious problem. He knows better than to get on my bad side."

"Why are you protecting me? What difference does it make if he kills me?"

"You don't think I'm capable of anything but evil?"

"I don't understand why you would do something that angers your family when it's pretty clear everything you do is for them or because of them."

"Maybe I wanted to do something for myself just this once. Is that so hard to believe?"

"So that's what I am? Something for yourself? A little toy to play with until you get bored?"

"I don't think of you like that." He said. _Not anymore_, he thought.

"Then what do you think of me? Because as much as I appreciate still being alive, I'm a little confused here."

"I ... I think you're interesting. You're strong, even though you've been through so much. And you don't even seem to realize how much you're enduring that you don't have to. I want to make it better."

"I don't want your charity. Or anything. There are strings."

"No strings."

"You want me to feel like I owe you something. I already owe you my life. You're just waiting to collect whatever you expect in return."

"No, I get what you're thinking, but I don't want anything like that. I don't want anything forced."

"So this is all because you're nice? Because you're such a good person?" She said sarcastically. "You randomly save people from plane crashes you cause just because you're such a good guy?"

"No! I've never done anything like this! I don't care about anyone!"

"Why did you? You might think I'm strong or interesting now, but you knew nothing about me when the plane went down. Why did you bother?"

"Because you're so beautiful... I didn't want to destroy you in the crash."

It was one of the worst things he could have said. She hated when people reacted to her based on her looks, good or bad. It was why so many people assumed she was shallow or stupid. It was why she got head cheerleader over the girl she knew was just as good but not as pretty. It was why men thought they deserved access to her. Because she was beautiful and men want to own beautiful women. None of them really cared about who she was. She was a puppet to Damon. She thought Tyler was different, but he obviously didn't care about her either. They just wanted the status of a pretty girl, and didn't care about getting to know the person underneath.

"Typical." She muttered.

She sat down on a rock and leaned back on her hands. He would just have to wait. He was tapping his foot impatiently, but she wasn't budging. He had just royally pissed her off. She wanted a moment to seethe at yet another man projecting something on her based on how she looked.

"That's not what you wanted to hear." He said, watching her expression.

She just looked away.

"It's true." Well, mostly. He had pulled her out because she was beautiful. More like ravishing, sexy, intoxicating, couldn't pass up an opportunity to touch her, hoped she might be up for some thank her rescuer sex, but there was no need to add all that.

She rolled her eyes.

"I know more about you now, It's not just that..." He started to add, but he caught sight of something sliding along the side of the rock she was sitting on getting closer and closer to her left arm.

"Caroline, stay very still." He said, his voice low and commanding.

She turned her head sharply to look at him, alarmed by the tone of his voice.

"What?" She said, starting to panic.

He snapped a thin branch off a tree and took a cautious step towards her.

It was slithering closer. He needed to hit it on the first try.

She watched him cautiously walk towards her brandishing the pointy stick. Was he going to stab her?

"Klaus." She whispered, frightened. "What are you doing?"

"Stay still."

"Why?" She asked, her hands gripping tighter on the rock she was sitting on.

"Snake."

She screamed. Then she turned and saw how close it was and flailed a bit. It reacted to her and lunged, sinking it's fangs into her forearm.

As soon as the snake let go he pierced it straight through the middle of it's head with the stick, then stepped on it a few times for good measure.

She looked down, horrified at the bite on her arm and the splattered snake guts at her side.

He grabbed her firmly by the shoulders.

"I told you to stay still! Why couldn't you listen?" He roared.

Her eyes widened in fear. He was so close to her, so angry. Instead of responding, she froze up, anticipating the blow. She was used to punches accompanying anger. When a man yelled at her it meant he was about to hit her.

He saw it and closed his eyes, swallowing as if he was trying to force down the anger.

"Why didn't you listen?" He said, a bit softer this time "Why can't you just do as I say?"

"I got scared!" She protested.

He just sighed and shook his head.

He took a step away from her and dumped out the bag with the first aid kit. Once he was looking away from her he could let his anger show again. He was learning to be careful. He didn't want to scare her or trigger any memory, but he was furious.

She caught it, the way he flung things from the bag as he dug through it, muttering swears under his breath.

"I'm fine." She said weekly. "No big deal, just a little blood. I can walk fine."

"No you're not." He growled.

"Really, I feel fine." She protested, trying to get him to calm down. He looked furious. Why? Did he think she got bitten on purpose? "It didn't hurt that much."

"That snake was extremely venomous."

She felt her heart sink. She looked back down on the little punctures and suddenly they seemed far more frightening.

"No anti-venom, seriously, Bekah?" He muttered as he dug through the kit. "Three types of antibiotics, but no anti-venom?"

"Am I going to die?" She whispered.

"No!" he snapped. "And stop worrying. It'll make your heart rate go up, then it'll go through your system faster."

That only made her worry more. She started taking deep ragged breaths as she prepared to die on that stupid rock.

He dug a tiny razor blade out of the first aid kit.

She wondered if he was going to slit her throat, end it faster.

Before she could protest he was scooping her up and pulling her into his lap. He held out the bitten arm to look at it.

She was hyperventilating, her entire body heaving with each breath.

This was it. It was so stupid that this was how it would end. She would laugh if she wasn't so frightened. She had survived neglect, abuse, heartbreak. She survived a plane crash, endured days in the wilderness with a psychotic criminal, almost kissed him, started to actually not hate him so much. Now a stupid snake bite and it was all over? How anticlimactic.

"Stop." He commanded, trying to hold her still. "I can fix this. I will not let you die."

She didn't understand the words coming out of his mouth. He said it himself. Extremely venomous. No anti-venom in the first aid kit.

"This is going to hurt." He warned.

She nodded, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she panicked more.

He cupped the side of her face.

"You're going to be fine, Caroline. Don't look." He said.

She pressed her face against his chest so she couldn't see what he was about to do with the razor blade pressed against her arm.

She let out a few choice curse words as he dug it in, making an x over each fang mark. Then she felt him lift up her arm and she let herself look.

Thick droplets of blood were forming at the x shaped marks he made. They were starting to drip down the side of her arm. He brought it up to his mouth and sucked hard on the wound, turning to the side to spit out a mouthful of blood before bringing her arm up to his mouth to do it again.

Her heart was slamming though her chest. She was so certain that this would be it. She thought of all the regrets she would have if she died that day. Not traveling more, not spending enough time with the people she loved, not standing up for herself nearly enough. There was one more. Why hadn't she kissed him? When she thought she was going to die, she wished she had kissed him.

The sound of him spitting blood over his shoulder snapped her out of it.

She looked up at his face, her blood smeared across his mouth. He lifted her arm to his lips again and sucked. She could feel his tongue pressing against her skin. His lips were on her. Lips she was just thinking about, wishing she had kissed.

It must have been the adrenaline still running through her from all the fear. That's the only explanation she had for why she felt like her whole body was on fire watching him do it.

Ok, it was kind of a personal thing to do. Intimate, even. Yeah, it was to save her life, but still. He was tasting her blood. His mouth on her skin while she sat in his lap. And the way it felt made it impossible not to think of what it would feel like to kiss him.

She held on to him tighter and pressed her face against his chest again.

He must have mistook it for her getting worried or impatient, because he broke away.

"Just two more times, it should be mostly out, I just want to be sure." He said, before getting back to work.

When he was finished, she let him sit her down in the grass so he could get up and rummage through the supplies. She watched in fascination as he absently wiped most of the blood off his mouth with the back of his hand, took a sip of the water bottle to rinse out, and lined up some of the medical supplies.

"Drink." He handed her the water bottle as he busied himself checking her bite marks, applying topical antibiotic, then wrapping it in gauze.

She stayed still, letting him wrap her up.

"Food." He muttered, handing her one of the packets of nasty gel.

She did feel a little light headed, so she slurped it down, chasing the awful tasting goo with some more water.

When she set the water bottle down she noticed he was watching her.

"How do you feel?" He asked, a nervous strain in his voice "Nausea, pain, numbness in your fingers or toes?"

"Fine. A little lightheaded, but fine." She replied.

His shoulders relaxed and he exhaled heavily, he checked her arm again.

She felt a split second of panic as he lunged at her abruptly.

He was hugging her, holding her tight.

She relaxed into it and hugged him back. There was something about the way he wrapped his arms around her. It was urgent, protective, like he was trying to shield her from everything, like he needed to feel her to make sure she was still there.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you." he murmured into her hair. "I was angry that you were hurt, I shouldn't have yelled at you like that."

"It's ok. You saved me. Again." She replied noticing how tight he was still holding her.

He could feel her face pressed against him as he held her close. He couldn't bring himself to let go. He needed to keep her here, flush against him so nothing could hurt her. Keep her safe. How hard was that? And yet he had already failed. He couldn't protect her from a stupid snake, how was he going to take care of her once they were around people again?

She couldn't go back to wherever she came from. Not to whatever American town she came from, to the parents who didn't notice and the friends who didn't do a thing to stop it. To people who made her play nice with her rapist and to a cheating boyfriend. Ex-boyfriend. She said she had ended it. Not that it mattered.

She would never want him. Earlier, when they just left the caves, he thought he saw a chance, just for a moment. He thought he could kiss her, that she would want it. But she pulled away, probably revolted by the thought of him. He wasn't used to the sting of rejection. Most women were more than happy to, well, do a lot more than kiss him. Of course, they never knew about who he really was, save for the few who were part of the underworld themselves. Tatia. A reminder of why he hadn't done more than one night stands in years. He thought she accepted him for who he was, loved him even. Needless to say, it was all a ruse. He learned his lesson.

Caroline was different. She was sweet and genuine and strong and everything he wished he could have. She didn't want him. _You're a monster, Niklaus, and she's already had her fill of monsters_.

He kept holding her tight. He would keep her close as long as she would allow.

She wiggled a bit, loosening his hold on her. He caught her looking at his face, at his lips. They were probably still stained with her blood. _Repulsive monster_, he thought, _nightmare creature_. But she didn't look at him with fear or disgust. He watched in awe as she looked up at him.

"Thank you." She whispered. She was looking at him like he was some kind of hero. Like he wasn't the bad guy.

He just nodded in response. He felt an ache in his chest, like she was pulling on his heart by saying those words, by looking at him like that.

Her thumb traced along the corner of his mouth, wiping away a remaining trace of blood.

Without thinking, he caught it in his mouth, licking off the blood. The taste a reminded of how only moments ago he had his mouth on her skin. Even the coppery tang of her blood was better than kissing anyone else. Sucking poison from her veins was better than a night of debauchery with any other women. Or any other two women for that matter. Or three... there had been that one time with three women at once.

No, this is better, he thought absently, catching her hand against his mouth. Without thinking, he held her palm to his face and kissed it. He glanced over at her, the shocked look on her face as he kissed her hand. There was fear, apprehension, a flicker of lust. He vacillated between being so sure she wanted him too and being so sure she would never ever act on it. He convinced himself that she would come to him, with time, and the next instant he shook his head and realized that he would always be a monster to her. She was ruining him. The one woman he wanted above all else, the only person since Tatia he could possibly imagine being faithful to, and she was so afraid. How could he convince her he deserved a chance? How could he convince himself?

He let go of her hand and loosened his grip on her. He waited for her to pull herself away, put some distance between them after the rather intimate gesture he just pulled. He mentally reprimanded himself for it._ Licking blood off her thumb, kissing her hand? Really, Niklaus, have you any shame? Is this what it's come to? Why don't you just get on your knees and beg her?_ She was probably eager to get away from him after a little stunt like that. He imagined her wanting to go wash her hand, scrub her arm clean of any trace of his mouth ever being there.

Instead she snuggled closer to him, moving one hand around his waist as she pressed herself against him. Again, the fingers tracing the scars on his back. Tatia had never done that. She was the only one he ever told the true story of them to before Caroline. She had always just avoided them. But now Caroline was here, and she was so different from anything he had experienced. Delicate fingers running along the ugliest memories his body carried. Her other hand, the one he had kissed, was pressed against his chest.

He saw her looking at it, the hand he kissed, and she was blushing, a slight smile on her lips.

There was a chance.

* * *

Katherine stumbled a bit as she jumped out of the pickup truck she had snagged a ride into town in. She scooped her bag out of the truck bed and hobbled down the side of the road on her spike heels. The driver didn't even bother to pause as he sped away.

She changed into better funeral attire in a gas station bathroom and walked down the road to the church. It had been months since she spoke to Elena. They weren't exactly close. Not after all they had been through. Dealing with the sudden death of your parents is messy enough, imagine adding in finding out just which twin they preferred at the reading of the will. Elena got the house, control of the trust fund, guardianship of Jeremy. Katherine got a ticket to rehab. They didn't have much of a reason to talk after that fiasco. But when she got the voice mail asking her to come home for Caroline's funeral, she found a way to get back to Mystic Falls.

All the anger came rushing back when she walked into the church. There was a horrible blown up picture of Caroline's senior yearbook picture. That was five years ago, couldn't they find something more recent? And the slideshow was the final straw. How sappy and sentimental. The girl was blown to bits in an airplane explosion, why were they all trying to sugar coat it?

Elena was in one of the front rows, sitting between the Salvatore brothers. Of course. Just like old times, Katherine thought. Jeremy was nowhere in sight.

She watched from the doorway into the church as Liz and Bill Forbes moved around, accepting condolences from friends and neighbors. Elena got up from her seat to say something to Liz and both Salvatore brothers followed. She watched in horror as Damon hugged Liz. It was so fucking twisted. Her sister's whole group of friends was. It figures that Caroline would be the one to die. She was the only one Katherine could actually stand. They had a few mean girl standoffs and blowouts in high school, and while she would complain loudly about the Forbes bitch to anyone who would listen, she respected that the girl could hold her own.

A few years ago, Caroline sent a care package of tabloids, cute pajamas and candy to her when she was stuck for that stupid two month stint in rehab. It was nicer than anything her own sister ever did.

And now Caroline was dead. Why did it have to be her?

She needed a moment before going in, so she snuck off to the bathrooms.

She closed the bathroom door and rummaged through her purse to find the flask. She took a long sip as she leaned against the sink and shuddered as it burned down her throat. It would take more than a few sips to get through today.

The smell of pot wafted through the bathroom and she realized she wasn't alone.

Katherine kicked open the door to the stall and came face to face with a very guilty looking Vicky Donavan.

"Nice, bitch." Katherine muttered.

"Like you're one to talk." Vicky huffed, motioning at the flask. "Looks like I'm not the only one who needed something to take the edge off."

"How's your brother?" Katherine asked, knowing it would get a rise out of her.

"How's yours?"

Katherine motioned for Vicky to hand over the blunt, and Vicky obliged, grabbing for the flask. Katherine took a long drag and Vicky took a sip, then they returned their vices to each other.

They sat in silence for a few minutes. They had been high school nemeses, being the two wildest girls in school, often fighting over boys they both wanted, eventually going after each other's brothers and getting into more fights over that. Some time after high school ended, they formed a strange bond, being the two wild girls the town didn't understand. They both wandered, but when they ran into each other, they usually ended up getting into trouble together. They had woken up in jail cells together more than once, and in strange houses more than they could count.

"So, Caroline's really gone." Katherine sighed. "How's Matt handling it?"

She had messed around with Matt plenty in high school, but Caroline was his real high school sweetheart. She knew he would be devastated.

"Horrible." Vicky answered honestly. "What about Elena?"

"She hasn't said much. Probably the same. But she's sitting next to Damon. Unfuckingbelievable."

"Yeah. Matt told me about it. He saw me flirt with him at the grill once a while back and wanted to warn me."

"He shouldn't be here." Katherine spat.

"I didn't see Tyler in there." Vicky mused. "If anyone should be here, it's him."

"Yeah, I didn't see him either. How could someone skip their own girlfriend's funeral?"

"What a dick."

"Total scumbag."

"Give me another sip."

"Yeah, as soon as you pass that over here."

"Ready to go face Mystic Falls?"

"As ready as I'm going to be."

* * *

Klaus had lead the way up another steep incline, leading to a jagged canyon that cut across, completely separating the land they stood on from the land in front of them.

She gulped as she looked out at the rickety wood and rope bridge that hung across the canyon. The drop below it was a certain death. It didn't look very stable.

"Last big obstacle, sweetheart. After this, just a short walk."

She nodded. It was starting to get dark. The dusk just made the deep abyss below the bridge all the more terrifying.

"One hand on the ropes, the other hand in mine." He reminded her. "I will not let you fall."

"What if it collapses?"

"It won't."

"But what if?"

"It won't. This is the only way across. The only place where these two land masses meet close enough. We have to take it."

She nodded.

Her stomach was in knots. Every plank looked like it was about to rot and crumble.

He moved on to the first two planks, holding on the the ropes as he leaned with his weight on one plank, then the other.

"We're good." He said, and held his hand out.

She stayed frozen at the edge of the bridge. It was a long fall.

"You can do this." He reminded her.

She swallowed her nerves and took his hand.

The first steps out made her aware of the wind whipping through the canyon between the two land masses. The drop looked even bigger when it was right below her.

"Good, now a few steps forward." He said.

A few more steps. She was getting closer to the middle of the bridge. She could feel it shift and sway below her.

"Klaus?" she squeaked out, her voice trembling from fear.

He held on to her hand tighter.

"You're ok, you can do this." He reminded her.

She followed, holding on to his hand with all her strength. He promised. He promised she would be safe.

A few more steps.

Almost there.

She ran the last few steps off the bridge and collapsed to the ground once they made it to the other side.

He let go of her hand and walked back to the bridge. She watched as he took a few steps back out, and flicked the lighter, catching some of the middle planks on fire. He hurried back off to the side and once he stepped off, he lit the ropes until they broke. She slowly walked up behind him and watched as each rope snapped, as the wood planks crackled with fire.

He felt her hands snake around his waist as the last rope burned and snapped, sending the flaming bridge crashing away from them. He slipped the lighter back in his pocket and wrapped his arms around her. They watched the flaming bridge fall apart.

"I told you I would keep you safe." He said.

"I believe you." She said.

He looked back behind them.

"Turn around" He whispered.

She turned, holding on to him as they shifted to look out at the path before them. There was a walkable trail that snaked down the mountain, and below was the beach.

"That's where we're going." He pointed. "We'll be on the beach in an hour."

"And then the boat, your brother?" she said.

He nodded. "You have nothing to worry about."

She looked out at the ocean, worried.

"He's not going to hurt you. No one is. If anyone comes near you, I'll tear out their throat before they can even touch you."

She looked at him and knew he could. The same hands that were now gently wrapped around her back had probably snapped necks and caved in faces. The finger tracing along her shoulder soothingly had pulled the trigger on others.

He looked out at the ocean. They could see a lot farther out from the high point they were standing on.

"I don't see anything. Looks like he's running late. Typical." he huffed.

They moved down the mountain. She was exhausted, every muscle burning from the climb down, but she wouldn't let it show. She wouldn't ask for another break. It was almost over.

* * *

Once her feet touched sand she plopped down and pulled her shoes and socks off, along with the hoodie she was wearing. She stretched out in the warm sand and smiled.

He watched her, enjoying the relief and satisfaction on her face. She was done being dragged around. He didn't want to ever pull her through such filth again. There would have to be some way to make it up to her. What was that spa Mother and Rebekah were always running off to? She would like a day there. Or better yet, he'd bring someone to the house for her.

He pulled off his own shoes and sat next to her in the sand. She sat up and leaned against him, soaking in the sun.

He checked under her bandage to see how the snake bite was healing.

"Does it still hurt?" he asked, tracing along the area.

"No. Thank you again."

"You don't need to thank me."

"You saved my life." She protested.

"It was entirely selfish, I assure you."

"How's that?"

"I don't want to live in a world without you."

She looked at him, a bit stunned.

"You don't even know me." She whispered. "Whoever you think I am, I can't be that person. I'm broken. I'm not worth it."

"I know enough. And you're worth so much more than you know."

She watched as he picked up her hand and held it between his own.

Has she ever felt so nervous just from having someone hold her hand? She was so afraid of how easily she was slipping into trusting him. She couldn't stop it even though she knew it would end badly. It always did.

He leaned in a little closer, studying her face.

He was giving her that look again. The one only he could do. The one that made her stomach do a flip flop.

Those danger signs in her mind started flashing again.

He let go of her hand and traced down her hair, his fingers tangling in the soft waves and landing at the back of her neck.

He kept getting just a little closer, trying to read her.

She felt herself shaking as if she had been dipped in ice water. Every nerve in her body was telling her to move away. But something else was keeping her locked in place. It wasn't fear. She knew he wouldn't hurt her.

She placed her shaking hand on his arm, the other one reaching out for his shoulder. She was holding on, hoping he wouldn't let her fall. She knew what he was going to do.

He looked down at her hands on him, back up to her face. She was terrified. But she was in. He had been asking her to take a chance on him, and he thought, if he was reading her right, she might if he acted right now.

Carefully, he lowered his face, tilting, getting closer to hers. He kept waiting for her to pull away, trying to give her every chance. Now he was only a centimeter away, and he paused, expecting her to pull away.

Her hands pulled on him, urging him to continue.

He closed the gap between them, softly, carefully bringing his lips to hers.

A charge shot though her at the impossibly soft touch. She felt every worry melt away. He was holding on to her, so gently, like she was made of eggshells. But there was so much warmth behind it, a longing for more but he was carefully holding back.

She kissed back, applying a little more pressure. She felt his arms tighten around her as he pulled her closer.

He responded by picking up the pace, kissing her harder, with a passion she didn't understand. His hands were moving through her hair, down her back.

She was lost in him. Nothing else existed. What started out slow and gentle was getting more urgent and desperate. She felt his tongue trace along her lip, begging for entrance.

When she parted her lips slightly he greedily invaded her mouth, exploring every inch, his tongue caressing hers. His grip on the back of her neck was firmer, pushing her against him, trying to get as much as possible.

He broke away and scanned her face, checking to make sure she was ok.

When he was met with a smile he dove back in, this time his lips landing on her neck, trailing up and down, licking and sucking as he traveled across her skin.

He was leaning to the side, trying to push her closer to him as they sat next to each other in the sand. He needed to feel more of her. There was never enough.

Before she knew what was happening she was on her back in the sand and he was over her, his mouth now back on hers. He was sliding his hands up and down her sides, kissing her like he needed to prove something, needed to show her.

She tugged on his bottom lip and felt him shudder as she sucked on it. Her hands moved up and down his back, lightly scratching at the scars.

He pushed against her as he kissed back, and she held on to his tighter, feeling the warmth of his skin all over.

She was lost, spinning, falling right into whatever trap he had planned, but she didn't care. She wanted more. She matched each kiss, pulling him closer, trying to touch every inch of skin she could get to.

She felt him pull back a little, returning to softer little kisses, feather light touches, and then he was pulling away, just a tiny bit, leaning his forehead against hers as they caught their breath.

He carefully moved to the side so he was laying in the sand next to her.

She snuggled closer to him and made a line of kisses along his collarbone and shoulder before burrowing her head in his chest.

He looked up and saw the sun setting along the horizon. He looked back at her. What just happened?

He stroked her hair as they stayed close, neither saying anything.

She told him that her last boyfriend cheated on her? She said found him in bed with someone else when she surprised him with a visit. It made even less sense now. How could anyone want anything else after kissing her? How could anything be worth losing her? He would start wars, raise armies for another kiss like that, he would slaughter entire civilizations and burn cities to the ground to get another moment with her.

The perfect silence was enough for now. She had kissed him back, she didn't try to pretend she didn't want to or justify it after the fact. She was just there, next to him, looking at him like she trusted him. She knew the boat was his call. She didn't have a choice. All she could do was hope he wouldn't betray her.

Reluctantly, he broke away and stood up. They had arrived. He saw the white shape of the boat, the silly little pirate flag Kol found so amusing. Several bodies on the docks. They were as close to shore as they could get without getting stuck in the sand.

Someone bellyfloped off the side, making a big splash.

Kol.

He waved as he watched his brother approach the beach.

* * *

Hayley nodded as Kol pointed out where to stop and she clicked the key and turned off the engine. They looked around trying to spot the figure on the beach.

"Maybe he didn't get here yet." One of the men offered.

"He's here." Kol said, scanning the land. "He's never late. I just need to find him."

"There." Jeremy pointed.

They saw a figure in the distance stand up. He must have been lying down on the beach earlier, making it impossible to see him from the distance.

"I think I'm going to go greet the prodigal son." Kol joked and stood on the edge of the boat. "Lockwood, Gilbert. Go down and find some food and a celebratory drink for our favorite wolf. I'm sure he's famished." He smirked over at Hayley. "Knowing Niklaus, I'm sure he wouldn't refuse the company of a lady either, after all it's been _days_."

"Pass." She said dryly and made a face at Kol.

Koll shrugged. "Suit yourself. I'm sure we can stop somewhere on our way home so he can scratch that itch."

He bellyflopped off the side of the boat.

They all watched as he popped above the water's surface again.

"Well?" He asked.

"I give it an 8" one of the men shrugged, absently cleaning the AK-47 he had taken apart on one of the tables on the dock.

"8 and a half" the other offered.

"6" Hayley offered.

"You're quite the spitfire. I can see why Lockwood's so enamored." Kol shouted back up.

"Just go get him so we can get out of here." She shooed him.

Kol muttered something about pretty little things with sharp tongues as he waded towards the island.

* * *

Below deck Jeremy and Tyler were rummaging through the fridge for some food.

"I've never met this brother" Jeremy said. "Is he like Elijah? I met him a few weeks ago. He seemed... reasonable."

"I don't know Elijah." Tyler shrugged. "But Klaus can be a little moody. You can't joke with him like we do with Kol. He's the best at what he does, but he knows it, and he expects people working for him to to bring their best. You don't want to disappoint him."

"Have you met the mother yet?" Jeremy asked.

"Nah, I don't rank that high. I've heard she's pretty terrifying."

"Yeah me too."

"So have you been home recently? I haven't seen anyone in months, well, except Care."

"Yeah what happened with that?"

"I thought I could keep the whole Hayley thing separate, you know how we basically have to have a double life with this stuff, but they ended up coming face to face. It was stupid."

"You picked Hayley?"

"Caroline didn't exactly give me a choice. She left as soon as she saw."

Jeremy nodded. He didn't agree with Tyler's decisions, but he wasn't exactly one to judge. He had made plenty of his own mistakes when it came to girls.

"Well, to answer your question, I haven't been home in about a month. Actually, it's been a while since I've talked to anyone. Elena keeps calling but I've been ignoring it. If she's coming to me about whatever she's worried about with Katherine, she's got the wrong guy. I'm just as bad."

"Katherine's in trouble again?"

"She's always in some kind of trouble. Always showing me up by managing to be the most reckless."

"That's why you joined up? To piss off your family? Be badder than Katherine for once?"

"Well that and a chance to see Damon Salvatore squirm."

"Yeah, fuck that guy." Tyler muttered.

"What about you?" Jeremy asked.

"I don't know. It's like.. this fits me, you know? I'm good at it."

"And the pretty brunette driving the boat doesn't hurt, either."

"Yeah." Tyler laughed.

"Champagne?" Jeremy asked, passing the bottle in the back of the fridge to Tyler.

"Why not?" Tyler shrugged. "I have a feeling boss man will be in the mood to celebrate."

* * *

Kol had almost made it to shore when he noticed the second person on the beach. He picked up instantly on the way Niklaus positioned himself between the two of them, as if he was trying to block her.

_Well, well, what do we have here? _Kol thought.

"Kol, so nice of you to make it almost on time." Nik said sarcastically.

Under other circumstances, he would have wrung his neck for his tardiness, especially considering Kol's tardiness had gotten him into this mess in the first place. However, it was hard to be mad when all of Kol's mistakes had led to him meeting her. Even the extra time they had to wait for him to show up today gave him a chance to finally make a move. And she kissed back. She kissed him like no one else. It was hard to be mad, but Kol needed to learn.

"You look like hell, Niklaus."

"I've been stranded for the past few days, jumped out of a plane, had a beam fall on me in Johannesburg, ended up in the police station surrounded by peasants. What's your excuse?"

Caroline was slowly getting to her feet, eying Kol warily.

"Ah, I see you have a hostage." Kol smirked. "That wasn't part of the plan. She is a pretty little thing. I guess you found something to keep you occupied while you were here."

"Touch her and I'll break your legs." Klaus said quietly, glaring into Kol's eyes, making sure he knew it wasn't an empty threat.

"Is that any way to treat your family?" Kol smirked.

"If you weren't family I would do a lot more. Tell your men to leave her alone or they'll pay with their lives."

Kol sighed. "Well, who is she? How much are we going to get?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Your hostage. How much is she worth?"

"She's not a hostage. There's no ransom."

"She's what, then?"

"Just leave it, Kol."

Kol walked over to Caroline and leaned close, as if he was inspecting her.

"You must be something very special" Kol said in a dangerously soft voice "You see, my brother doesn't usually keep women around for long, and here you are, three days on these islands and he still wants to keep you alive? What's your special talent? You must have have a mouth on you like a vacuum."

Caroline felt her cheeks burn and she glared, wanting to slap him but afraid of what he might do in retaliation.

Klaus caught Kol by the arm and twisted, sending him flying face first into the sand.

He put an arm around Caroline and kissed the side of her face.

"Sorry about him. Sometimes he needs to be reminded of his manners. I'll teach you how to do that move later."

Kol spit out a mouthful of sand.

"What the hell, Nik?"

"Talk to her like that again and I'll make sure to embarrass you in front of your little toy soldiers."

"There's one of your men on board as well. I brought your puppy. You know, the one attached at the mouth to my favorite sniper."

"That puppy could take out any of your men in hand to hand."

"But his shooting's sloppy and he's not the brightest bulb, is he? I'll introduce you to my new council poach. He's quite the shot."

"Sounds like a good choice, but it'll have to wait. I'd like to see Caroline to the boat so she can get some food and rest. It's been a long three days."

"So she has a name. Sweet Caroline it is." Kol purred.

"Do you want to keep all your teeth, Kol?" Klaus warned.

Kol looked her up and down and smiled. "I don't know what your deal is with this one, but I'm going to find out."

"Leave it, Kol."

"Boat's this way, Nik."

They waded out into the water and after they took a few steps, Klaus paused and picked up Caroline, carrying her in his arms as they waded though so she wouldn't get wet.

Kol glanced back at them and raised an eyebrow, but kept trudging through the water. Once his back was turned, Klaus snuck a kiss, earning a smile from Caroline.

She glanced nervously at the boat. As they got closer she could see the outlines of two men brandishing AK-47s patrolling the deck.

"You're safe. They answer to me." He reminded her.

She nodded, but she didn't look convinced.

He kissed her again. How could anyone do anything else when a girl like her let you kiss her?

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

She smiled and kissed him back.

"I'm trusting you."

He held her closer and felt her head rest against his chest as they made their way through the water. He had her trust. Now all he had to do was make sure he didn't mess it up.

They reached the boat and Kol hopped up first, offering Caroline a hand up as Klaus hoisted her onto the deck. Klaus pulled himself up behind her and shot Kol another look that said he was watching him.

Caroline looked around, trying not to show how afraid she was of the men with guns.

"Good to have you back, Niklaus." One of them called out.

"Good to be back." He said, scanning the dock. He reached out and took Caroline's hand, a possessive gesture that made it clear she was for him and him alone. "This is Caroline. She is my guest and anyone who is anything but the perfect host to her will have me to answer to. Understood?"

The men nodded as did the girl at the wheel.

Caroline tilted her head. The girl looked familiar, but she couldn't quite place it.

The girl looked back at her, scrunching her brow, as if she was working the same wheels in her mind.

A door flung open and someone came out holding a bottle of champagne and some glasses.

"Hey, boss! Welcome back!" He smiled "Nice to-"

Tyler froze. He looked as if he had seen a ghost. What was she doing here? Why was he holding her hand?

She was frozen in place, her mouth open. She kept blinking, as if she had somehow hallucinated him.

"Tyler?" She gasped.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Wow! I'm blown away by all the support this story is getting. Thank you so so much for reading and reviewing, it's made this such an amazing experience. **

**This chapter is dedicated to KlausNCaroline and Inge/Swinty81. KlausNCaroline has been so amazing and supportive and I think a lot of people reading this story found it though her, and Swinty81 made this amazing new graphic that's now the cover pic for this story. If you're on tumblr, you should follow them, they're good people. **

**Finally, today is election day in the U.S. so to all the Americans reading this, if you haven't already, go vote! **

* * *

"Tyler?" She gasped.

"Caroline?" He responded, equally baffled. "What are you doing here?"

Jeremy bounded up the stairs behind Tyler.

"Hey, I've got some more glasses and the second bot- Caroline?"

"Jeremy?" She exclaimed. She looked back and forth to him and Tyler, neither seemed to have an explanation. What were they doing here? How did they know him?

Jeremy looked to Kol. "What's going on?"

"Hell if I know." Kol muttered, taking a seat. "But judging by Nik's face, the party's just getting started."

A vein was pulsing in Klaus's neck, his entire face clenched in anger as he looked straight at Tyler.

Tyler. He never called the Lockwood kid by his first name. In fact, he had entirely forgotten what it was. But she had told him all about her Tyler, the cheating ex who just happened to be in the same city where he was training the Lockwood boy. What were the chances that she knew more than one Tyler studying in Johannesburg? Why had he not thought of it earlier?

She knew the Gilbert boy too. That meant... He couldn't even begin to think about what that meant. Right now all he knew is that stupid little puppy he had spent the last year training had been cheating on her the entire time. Kol's sniper, her name was something with an H. Heidi? Hadley? That girl was always in Lockwood's bed, in his apartment, sitting on his kitchen counter without any pants, drinking out of the carton like she lived there. It all started to add up, the little details he never bothered to notice. The silly little care packages and letters Lockwood was always shoving aside, the calls he would hit the ignore button for, it was all her.

Jeremy took the bottle and glasses out of Tyler's hands and set them on the table.

"Tyler? Did you bring her here?" He asked.

"No... I .. what's going on?" Tyler stuttered out.

Caroline felt Klaus let go of her hand and she watched in horror as he stormed across the boat to Tyler, who was nervously inching back until he hit the railing.

Klaus's fist connected with Tyler's cheek with enough force to knock him backwards and off the side of the boat.

Caroline screamed.

Hayley mumbled something under her breath as she scurried over to the side of the boat to make sure he was conscious.

Tyler popped up from the water.

"What the hell?" He sputtered, rubbing his cheek.

"Fantastic" Kol said, slapping Jeremy on the back. He popped the cork on one of the champagne bottles and took a big swig from it before passing it to Jeremy. "Drinks with the show?"

Jeremy took the bottle from Kol and warily watched Klaus as he took a long sip. Kol's brother looked fucking scary and he would not want to be the one to be on his bad side.

Caroline shoved past them to look over the edge of the boat. Tyler was chest deep in water, looking up at the boat he was just tossed out of. She glanced over at Klaus, who was boiling with rage.

"I don't ever want to see your face again, you little shit." Klaus screamed down at Tyler. "We're fucking done as soon as we get off this boat. You hear me? Done! You work for Kol now. You stay out of my sight or I'll kill you myself."

Tyler looked up at Caroline, trying to piece it together.

"Caroline, whats going on?" He asked.

"I could ask you the same." She stammered out.

"No!" Klaus shouted down at him again. "You do not get to say her name and you do not speak to her. Don't even look at her."

Tyler nodded slowly, finally understanding the motivation behind the punch.

"Get him up." Klaus motioned to the other men on dock.

He grabbed Caroline's arm, pulling her towards the door that would lead them below deck.

She felt like everything was spinning as she felt herself being led away. What was going on? What were they doing here?

Kol came scurrying behind them.

"Your favorite puppy, Niklaus? What did I do to deserve this?"

"Just keep him away from me, Kol. I spent a year training that little bastard, I'd hate to see it all go to waste from me strangling him."

"I hope you're not expecting a trade. I've grown rather fond of the Gilbert boy. We have a, what do you call it, a bromance?"

"Keep your Gilbert and take the Lockwood boy. Just leave me alone. I need to talk to her."

Kol nodded and turned around to go crack a few jokes at Tyler's busted face.

Caroline followed Klaus down the tiny staircase down below the deck. He found a bedroom and pulled her in closing the door behind them.

"Sit." He motioned to the bed.

She sat, watching him pace around the room.

"If you expect me to apologize, I'm not going to." He said.

She wanted to be mad. Really, she did. Aside from the whole cheating thing, Tyler had been really good to her. He helped her survive. He was the one who shot Damon, kept him from killing her. He helped her get back to her old self. She had so many happy memories with him. But at the same time, he broke her heart. He crushed her by doing what she was so sure he would never do. It was a tiny bit satisfying to have someone crack him across the face for it.

"Why did you do it?" She asked.

"Lockwood is the Tyler you spoke of. The boy who cheated on you. The reason you were on the plane."

"Yes."

"I wanted to hurt him. He hurt you so I hurt him. That's how this works."

"You don't need to do that. You don't need to hurt people."

"Of course I do."

"It doesn't make me feel any better." She offered. _Maybe a little_, she thought.

"It makes me feel better. I should have done more. I'm not going to smile in his face knowing he did that to you."

"Why is he here? What does he have to do with you and your brother?" She asked. "And Jeremy?"

"I'll explain." He said. "But first. I have to know something."

He was burning circles in the carpet pacing around.

"Did you meet Gilbert through Lockwood? Were they friends, and that's how you knew his name as well?"

"No, I've known Jeremy my whole life." She said. "Why?"

He shook his head. This couldn't be happening. Not her. He held out a little hope. Just because she grew up with them didn't mean she was from a council family. She might have nothing to do with it. And she didn't look 25. She could be younger. Lockwood was only 23, and Gilbert was younger. She had to be younger. Their secrecy was notorious, they never ever let anyone under that age know a single thing about it. If she was under the age, she wasn't a spy. If she was under the age, she really did kiss him because she wanted to. Not because she was trying to get close to him to sell him out to the council.

She would end up hating him the second she found out, it was more than likely that she was from one of those families. She wasn't a Gilbert or a Lockwood, He prayed she wasn't a Fell or a Salvatore, they were the worst.

"You grew up in Mystic Falls, Virginia?" He asked, already knowing the answer.

She nodded.

"I need you to tell me the truth." He said, picking up her hands, his fingers holding her pulse point, a reminder that he could always tell.

The tone had changed. He wasn't the Klaus who kissed her on the beach or the one who swore to protect her. The tiny threat in his voice, in the way he held on to her reminded her of who he was the first time they spoke. He was so dangerous, so volatile.

She nodded again.

"What is your last name, and how old are you?"

She shot him a confused look. It was a strange thing to ask.

"Forbes."

"Shit." he muttered.

His heart sank. She was one of them. He had come across Liz Forbes before, she was much tougher than she let on, and now he saw the shared features between the two women. He had been so vulnerable, so personal with her. Liz Forbes's daughter? How could he be so foolish?

"And I'm 23." She added.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

She didn't know.

She wasn't a spy.

It was real.

She would hate him as soon as he told her, she would beg him to let her go. She would use everything she knew about him against him. She would laugh with her mother, with all the Salvatores and Fells about how stupid he was, how he told her all those things. But for a moment, she had felt something. She kissed him back on that beach. He wished he could just have kept her there forever.

"Klaus what's going on? What does my name have to do with anything?"

He shook his head. "I don't want to be the one to tell you, you'll hate me for it."

"You saved my life today. You're keeping your promises, keeping me safe. You just knocked my ex boyfriend off the side of the boat for cheating on me. Not that I condone violence or anything, but that was kinda amazing. I don't think hating you is possible."

He exhaled and took her hands.

"Everything I said, it's still true. I ... I care about you. I'll keep you safe."

He regretted the words as soon as he said them. Not because they weren't true. Because they were, but it wouldn't matter. _Shut up, stop saying it. She'll only laugh harder with them. Why do you keep making these promises to her? She won't want you. Not after this. _

She looked at him, trying to figure out what he couldn't bring himself to say.

"Can you just kiss me one more time?" He asked "Before you won't want to anymore?"

"What's so bad that you don't want to tell me?"

"Caroline, please."

She moved closer to him and kissed him softly.

He held on to her tight, desperate to make it last, not wanting to face the moment when she broke away.

He kept kissing her, pulling her towards him so she was pressed against him, his hand moving again along her lower back, trying to remind her. _You're safe. I won't hurt you and I won't leave. Just stay here with me_. When he felt her start to pull away, he franticly tried to get in a few more kisses, trailing down her jaw and neck, getting in one last taste. This was it. This was all he'd get.

"Tell me." She said, pulling away slightly.

He did. He told her everything about the council, about how they were organized, how her parents were part of it, his family's greatest enemy, another powerful organization bent on destroying them. How he knew more about her parents than she did. He told her about how they were poaching potential council members to join them, how they scouted Lockwood and Gilbert. He told her about how they would sit her down on her 25th birthday and reveal everything, expect her to join. How at 30 she would be a full member, with more responsibilities and voting power in the council.

"30." She whispered.

"Caroline?" He asked. She had nodded along calmly as he told her everything. He was waiting for her to lash out, scream at him. She hadn't had the reaction he was expecting.

"I can't believe they lied to me my whole life. I thought I had... 30?"

"Caroline, what's 30?" He asked, trying to figure out what she was fixating on.

"The first time he... did something. I threw him a party for his 30th. He didn't want it. I thought it was just because he didn't want his inappropriately younger girlfriend reminding him of his age. Now it makes sense. No wonder he was so stressed out."

Klaus blinked. He had been so wrapped up in the realization that she came from a council family. He hadn't thought about it since they got back on the boat. He had been planning on finding a way to kill him, even with only a first name to go on.

He hadn't put the pieces together right away. Of course. Mystic Falls. It wasn't exactly a common first name. The same Damon who hurt her was the one he had been coming to blows with for years. Currently number three on his personal hit list right after the Fell brothers, but right now he was switching them. Damon Salvatore was now number 1; he was a dead man walking.

"Damon Salvatore?" He asked.

The look on her face was all the confirmation he needed.

It turns out she already had dated someone as murderous as him. Damon's body count rivaled his own, and his ambition as he rose through the ranks of the council had been prolific. Few people on the Council had as much blood on their hands as the elder Salvatore brother, and none of them had accrued it so quickly.

The thought of that vile, disgusting council member with his hands all over her made him clench his fists until his knuckles cracked. Of all the people in the world, it had to be him? He felt numbness wash over him, a feeling he always got when he geared up to cause serious pain.

"Damon Salvatore?" He roared.

He was practically snarling as he stomped around the room. She was getting a glimpse of the wolf inside him and it terrified her. He looked like he was ready to rip someone apart with his bare hands.

She backed away, afraid of the rage building inside him.

He punched a wall, creating a crack in the hard plastic that cut though his hand.

She grabbed a pillow off the bed and held it in front of her as she moved slowly towards the opposite wall.

He punched the wall again and again, leaving smears of blood from where his skin split at the knuckles.

Visions of Damon Salvatore flashed through his head. Damon Salvatore hitting her, holding her down, forcing himself on her, throwing her in a ditch and leaving her for dead. It made bile rise up in his chest, it made him see red. He couldn't stand the thought of it, the images that wouldn't go away.

He kept hitting and kicking the wall until a hole caved in, exposing the other bedroom next to it. He didn't feel any pain as his hands bled from hitting over and over. All he felt was anger, rage flooding his mind as he couldn't stop the images from overtaking him. Images of Salvatore inflicting pain on her and getting away with it. He wanted to drown him in his own blood, cut him in half, feed him to sharks. No, that would be too quick. He needed to suffer, after what he did to her.

"Stop it!" She screamed.

He looked down, noticing the blood on his hands and started laughing.

She flinched.

It was a scary laugh, devoid of humor, she could tell he was contemplating something horrible.

He ran a hand down his face. He was boiling with anger and at the same time, it was like someone just handed him a christmas present. He had spent the past few days dreaming of ripping apart the Damon who raped her. Now he finds out it's a man he already hates? And he knows where he lives. Fantastic.

"Klaus?"

"I'm going to kill him." He muttered.

"That's not necessary." She said.

"Oh, yes it is." He laughed.

There was something going on behind his eyes that terrified her. He looked wild and dangerous. He was planning something.

"I don't want you to do this, please." She begged.

"Why?" he screamed at her. "He's not so bad now that you know you're part of it just like him? You want me to deliver you right back to Mystic Falls? So you can run back to all your Council friends? Tell them how pathetic the Wolf was, saving you, chasing after you, telling you those things about himself? They'll love it. I'm sure you'll all have a good laugh about it."

"I don't understand." She said, blinking back tears.

"There's nothing to understand. You're going to pick them. You're going to be one of them. And like a fool, I told you things, things I don't tell anyone."

"I didn't know anything about this!"

"Well now you do, so what's it going to be?"

"Why are Tyler and Jeremy working for you, if they're from Council families?"

"We approached them before they knew. Once they understood, they decided to stay with us."

"Why? Their families..."

"We offer things their families couldn't. I don't expect you to make the same choice."

"Why do I have to make one at all? I don't even know whats going on between us, and now you tell me this? I don't know what to do about it."

"There's a war going on! I'm on one side, your parents on the other. Don't you get that? You can't have both! You can't stand in the middle."

"You can't ask me to choose you over everything else, even with them lying to me. I just met you. I can't just turn my back on everything for you. I hardly know anything about you. "

"You should have turned your back on them years ago! They did it to you! I can't send you back there. Those people... Caroline, I won't let you walk back into that. You're not going back to Mystic Falls. I'm not going to let you. That town is a death trap."

He reached out to her and she moved out of his reach. She was afraid all over again, as if all the progress they had made had been wiped away. He knew she would hate him after he told her. It wasn't fair. For once he did the right thing, and he was being punished for it. He wanted to scream and throw things. She would hate him for it, for holding her back as long as he could manage. But he wouldn't just drop her off, knowing people like Damon Salvatore prowled around her, knowing that she slept in the same house as Liz Forbes, someone his mother had been meaning to get rid of for months. What if she sent a bomb in? Or a sniper? He couldn't stand the thought of her walking around Mystic Falls with a target on her back.

She glared at him. So much for not being a hostage. Now she finds out that her family and friends are all part of some secret club she never knew about. That they were his enemies. And now he's freaked out because he opened up to her and he thinks she's just going to go back to them and dish all the details over cosmos like an episode of Sex and the City. He thought she would laugh with her friends about all the personal things he told her, about their moments alone. He thought that little of her. That just because of what she found out, that the feelings she had tried so hard not to have would just all disappear. He made her crazy. She was going to be stuck now, all because of his ego.

"So I guess I'm stuck with you. So much for having a choice."

"If it was anywhere else..."

She just glared at him.

"You're not a prisoner, Caroline. I just... it's not safe."

She crossed her arms and continued glaring.

He felt the ice in her glare and looked down. What did she expect of him? To send her right back into the lion's den? Why couldn't she see that it was for her own protection?

"I'll give you some time alone." He muttered.

She watched him stalk out of the room, slamming the door behind him. It was the first time in days he wasn't right beside her.

She waited to feel relieved that he had given her time alone. After all, hadn't she spent the last few days reminding herself just how nice it would be to finally be rid of him? So why did watching him leave make her feel so empty?

* * *

Kol approached his brother, who was rinsing blood off his hands in the sink at the bar.

"Kill her already?" Kol smirked.

Klaus just glared at him.

"Is that a no?"

"Leave it, Kol."

Kol shrugged and picked up a bottle of liquor, pouring two glasses of it straight. He held the bottle over Klaus's hands, waiting.

"Go ahead." Klaus muttered.

Kol poured it over the cuts and Klaus grit his teeth at the sting. He could go downstairs to get some real antiseptic, but then he would risk running into her. He didn't want to face her, the way she glared at him, the way everything had turned to shit once they got on the boat. This was better for now.

They each picked up a glass. The little ritual came without having to think about it. The same since they were teenagers. Tap it on the table, clink glasses, tap on the table again, and down the whole thing in one sip. Kol poured another for each of them and they repeated the motions. Tap, click, tap, slurp.

With the second glass burning down to his stomach he was ready to talk to his brother about it.

"She's a Forbes. She used to date Lockwood, he was going behind her back with your sniper."

"Small world." Kol muttered. "Want me to kill her or would you rather do it yourself?"

"Touch one hair on her head and I'll make you beg for death." Klaus growled.

"Still attached, Wolfy? Even with her being a Council kid? Keeping her alive is only going to make things messier."

"Why wasn't I given a file on her? I would have recognized her face."

"So thats why she looked so familiar..."

"You must have seen her when you were scouting. Why didn't I have a file?"

"I only gave you files for the ones we thought had potential. I remember her now. She was weak, clumsy. Always in the hospital. Besides, she seemed kind of shallow and useless."

Klaus glared at him. "She's not. You weren't doing your research. Her photo should have been on my desk last year along with the Lockwood boy, the younger Salvatore and all those Gilberts."

"What is so special about this one?" Kol asked. "I don't see it."

"I'm not going to warn you again, Kol."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. Serious bodily harm. No problem. So what are you going to do with her?"

"I don't know. She needs to stay with us until I can surprise a few choice people by rising from the dead. After that, it depends on what she wants."

"And what if what she wants is to join up with the council? Tell them everything she knows about us?"

"I'll deal with that. You don't. If you even think about harming her, I swear."

"Ok, I get it. God, Niklaus, I've never seen you so ruffled before. Are you going to tell me what makes this one so special? Your women always seemed so... interchangeable? disposable?"

"Well she's not, so drop it. And no talk around her about my previous indiscretions."

"You think you can get her to join up? She's be a terrible solider, but I guess she'd make a halfway decent lure. I could use a little blonde distraction for some of those Russian jobs."

"She's not doing anything like that. I want her safe."

"Boring." Kol muttered. "So who's going to get the delightful surprise of being visited by your ghost?"

"I have a few in mind."

"I love a good haunting." Kol smirked.

* * *

Caroline hesitantly made her way back onto the dock. She looked around but didn't see Klaus anywhere. Thankfully, Tyler and Hayley weren't around either. Just a bunch of scary looking men with big guns. And Jeremy.

"Jeremy!" She waved.

He smiled and walked across the deck to wrap her in a big hug.

"Care! I can't believe this! How did you end up here?"

"It's a long story." She sighed.

"Are you... are you dating the boss?"

"Klaus?" She shook her head, thinking of him back in that room, bloodied hands. "No, I just met him."

"It didn't look like that. He looked very... protective of you."

"We kinda bonded quickly. I don't really know. How are you?"

Jeremy noticed the way she dodged answering any questions about Klaus. He wondered what she wasn't letting on.

"Oh, fine. I guess you know the truth now."

"Yeah, Klaus filled me in. How long have you been with them?"

"Almost a year. Same as Ty I think."

"Oh."

"Sorry. I didn't know he.. I just found out."

"It's fine." she shrugged. "You know, Elena thinks you've been using again. She's worried sick about you."

"Yeah, it was an easy way to explain me always being gone, so I just kinda went with it. I didn't mean to make her worry."

"You look good, Jere. You're healthy, right?"

"Yeah. I feel really good. I don't touch the stuff anymore. This has been really good for me."

"Are you happy?"

"Yeah. I don't know, it sounds crazy, but this just works for me. At first it was a good way to get back at my family, but now, it's kinda like I found a new one. One that doesn't always look at me like the fuckup druggie little brother. Kol's awesome to work for. Best job I ever had."

"What kind of stuff... What do they have you doing?"

"You know I can't talk abut it. But nothing I don't want to do. This was my choice."

She nodded. It was a lot to take in at once. But she was relieved that Jeremy seemed like he was there of his own free will.

"Care." He said quietly. "I know it's kinda selfish, but I hope if you decide to be part of all this, whats going on, I hope you pick this side, not the council."

"Why did you?"

"It's more honest. They don't pretend to be something they're not, they don't lie to you about what's going on. And we get paid really well. Plus..."

"Plus?"

"Ok, so Kol met me when he was scoping out people who would possibly be inducted into the council in the next few years. He could have just killed me, but instead he convinced me to join him. He saw me as worth more alive than dead. That's pretty cool, right?"

"You're weird, Jere."

"Maybe, but at least I'm fun, right? Remember the parties we used to have at the falls?"

She smiled at the memory.

"Yeah, Elena always ended up having to drag me you and Katherine out of there. The way you used to dare me to do shots with you all night, we'd be too drunk to even walk home. I think Stefan carried me out of those parties more often than not."

"And you'd always be sneaking off with Matt."

"Like you weren't doing the same with Vicky. Remember how we'd do the walk of shame home from the Donovan house together?"

"Like every weekend." He laughed.

* * *

Klaus watched as she laughed with the Gilbert boy. They seemed to be reminiscing about something. He saw the boy nudge her playfully, teasing her about something. It made him seethe with jealousy.

She looked happy, relaxed. Like talking to Gilbert made her forget all about the armed guards on the boat, about how he had just told her about all the secrets her family spent a lifetime keeping from her. Why couldn't she be that relaxed around him? why did she always have to flinch away? She didn't, back on the beach. She didn't when she slept next to him on the island, in the cave. But everything was different now.

He saw her laugh about something and swat at the boy. He took a step forward, wanting to go to her, but he held back. She would be happier if he stayed away, There was no way she wanted him now. Not after everything she knew.

She looked over and spotted him.

He watched as she excused herself and walked over to him. The Gilbert boy nodded to him briefly before slipping away to go find Kol.

_Good, keep Kol occupied_. He thought. I_ don't need him butting his nose into this_.

She was marching over to him with purpose. There was a fire in her eyes that reminded him of when she first woke up on the island. She was angry. He was hoping she would cool off after their last conversation, come to terms with the fact that she'd have to stay with him a little longer than anticipated, but it seemed as if her anger only continued to brew and it was about to boil over.

He looked around and was glad to see that the guards and the Gilbert boy were all gone. Good. He knew what was coming and it would not bode well for his reputation for his employees to watch him get chewed apart by a little girl.

She shoved him as hard as she could. Which was not very hard at all. He didn't even stumble a tiny bit.

"Don't you ever do that again!" She screamed.

He looked down at her, confused. Do what, exactly? What was she so mad about? He had told her everything.

"Do what?"

"You know what."

"I told you as soon as I figured out who you were." He protested. "Well, I had some words with Lockwood, then I told you."

"That's not what I'm talking about." She growled.

"What, then?"

"This." She said, picking up one of his hands.

He looked down at the cuts

"Oh." he muttered.

"That's all you can say? Oh?"

"I might have gotten a little carried away. I'll pay Kol to have the wall fixed."

She shook her head, unable to formulate words for what he was so clearly not getting.

"You're that mad about the wall?"

"You were so scary... I thought...I thought you were going to..."

"Shit." He mumbled, finally getting it.

He had been so absorbed in his anger that he had barely noticed she was in the room. Of course. He knew her history. When a man lost his temper around her it meant he was going to hit her. He slipped up, forgot himself, let her see the wolf inside him instead of the well behaved, controlled person he tried so hard to be for her. He was used to being around people who expected that kind of behavior from him. He was used to not caring if he scared the hell out of them, or if he ended up hurting someone. The guilt clawing at him for making her feel threatened by him was an entirely new feeling. Didn't he like that fear when he first found her? It had been fun. What had changed?

"Sweetheart-"

"Don't call me that."

"Caroline." He corrected himself. "I apologize. I didn't mean to frighten you."

"Right. And next time, its 'I wasn't aiming for you' and after that it's 'you shouldn't have provoked me like that' and then it's-"

"No!" He shouted.

She took a defensive step back. He winced, knowing he just made it worse by raising his voice again.

"No." He said, this time much softer. "That is never going to happen. I'm never going to hurt you."

"You hurt people all the time."

"I do. And I'm going to do more than hurt anyone who's ever raised a hand to you. You know that."

"I just keep waiting for it to happen." She whispered. "I thought in there, you were going to-"

Every time his fist hit the wall, she pictured the next swing connecting with her.

"Never. I'm never going to hurt you. You're safe with me. You have to believe me."

"I thought I did, but, seeing you like that..." She trailed off.

He looked down. Again, his impulse had been his downfall.

"How can I acquit myself? How can I show you that it's never going to be like that?"

"I don't know." She sighed. "I just want to go home."

"I'm going to keep you safe. You're better off with us than in Mystic Falls. It's not safe there."

"I'd rather be in danger than be a hostage."

"You're not a hostage!" He protested

"Really? Then let me go."

He shook his head, growing more frustrated. Did she really value her own life so little? Or was it just the prospect of spending more time in his company that made her want to run into certain danger?

Kol popped up from below deck, and they stopped their conversation, neither one wanting him to hear.

"We'll be at the marina in a few minutes. I'm to take you straight to the boss lady or face a most cruel and unusual punishment."

"And what would that be?" Klaus scoffed.

"Hell if I know. Probably having to sit through another one of her brunches."

"Make Lockwood stay out of my sight until we get in the car and drive away. I'm serious Kol. Do whatever you want with him and his training as long as he never crosses my path."

"You don't have to-" Caroline protested.

"Yes I do." He cut her off. "Actually, Kol, tell him he's free to approach me whenever he wants. Let him see what happens if he shows his face."

"Klaus!" She protested.

Kol pointed to the docks ahead of them.

"Almost home. I'm going to call and let her know we're on our way."

Klaus groaned. He didn't want to deal with this already. Obviously she would be upset at him for making her worry, she would fuss all over him and smother him. But what about Caroline? He knew his mother wouldn't welcome her with open arms. It was going to be a nightmare.

"Where is he taking us?" Caroline asked.

He sighed. "It seems as if you're going to have to meet my mother."


	8. Chapter 8

Kol drove up to a heavy iron gate. He rolled down the window and pushed the button.

A voice crackled through the speakers and then there was a series of clicks and the iron gate slid open.

The man sitting in the front seat next to Kol flicked through his phone, reading though messaged.

"Elijah's here. The others are out. She's waiting in her study."

Klaus sighed. She would have some choice words for him, for making her worry. He wasn't looking forward to this.

"Wake up, Caroline."

Caroline shifted from where she was laying with her head in his lap and sat up. She tired to act dignified as she sat up and fixed her hair She had tried so hard to not touch or look at him the whole way. But she had gotten sleepy, and somehow ended up laying across the back seat with her head in his lap. She looked out the window, away from him, trying not to think about how close her face must have been to, you know, _stuff_. His _stuff_. That she definitely had not wondered about at all. Not once. Nope.

Just thinking about it made her blush so she kept her face towards the window so he wouldn't notice.

She watched as they drove through the open gate, down a tree lined drive. The driveway twisted and turned several times before the house came into view.

She had no idea how far from the shore they were. They had rushed her off the boat, barely giving her enough time to say goodbye to Jeremy. She had wanted to give Tyler a piece of her mind, maybe get in a few words at that smug looking girl too, but there was never a chance. Klaus hadn't let go of her hand until they were in the car, and Tyler had known to stay away.

She looked out at his mother's house. This is where he was from, where he had grown up. The house was gorgeous. It was a massive manor home sitting on a property that spanned as far as she could see in every direction.

There was a porch swing and rows of flowers along the wraparound front porch and she could see stables and fenced off fields for horses off in the distance. Two horses were out in one of the fields, chasing each other in circles.

Knowing what she did about his family, she had been expecting some sinister fortress, but this place was peaceful and beautiful.

They pulled up right in front of the house and she hesitantly got out of the car. Klaus seemed to be taking his time, not wanting to venture towards the house.

The door opened and a man walked briskly towards them. He looked a little older than Klaus, maybe in his mid thirties, with dark hair and wearing an impeccable expensive looking suit. She noticed right away his strong resemblance to Kol.

"Niklaus!" the man shouted as he walked down the front steps.

"Elijah!" Klaus responded, moving towards him.

The men hugged, slapping each other on the back.

"I see you got my parachute."

"And your bomb."

"Everything went according to plan?"

"Mostly..." Klaus responded, glancing back at Caroline.

Elijah noticed her for the first time. His back stiffened up and the smile faded from his face. He gave her a once over and rolled his eyes.

"Really, Niklaus? You had to make a stop before coming here? Mother's been worried sick, she's not eating."

Klaus cringed a bit, looking embarrassed. "No, she's from the plane."

"We didn't plan on hostages. And you know this isn't where we bring them."

"She's not a hostage."

"Then what? Do elaborate, because I'm a little confused."

"This is Caroline. A friend."

"You know better than to bring your_ friends_ into our mother's house." Elijah sneered, clearly taking the word friend to mean something else.

"She stays with me." Klaus said, shooting a glare at Elijah.

Caroline caught Elijah giving Kol a questioning look, as if he expected the younger brother to be able to explain.

"I don't get it either." Kol shrugged.

"She's waiting." Elijah reminded Klaus.

Klaus nodded curtly.

He reached out to Caroline, carefully picking up her hands. He could feel his brothers watching, judging every movement.

"I'll only be a few minutes. Elijah will help you get settled."

He glanced over at Elijah. "Be hospitable. Keep Kol's hands off her. Find her a room. If I'm expected to stay the night here she will be as well."

Elijah looked like he wanted to say something in response, but he just nodded.

She felt helpless as Klaus walked into the house, out of her sight.

"Well, lets find you a room, shall we?" Elijah offered.

She nodded, carefully following him into the house but keeping her distance.

The place was lavish, gorgeous, although a bit cold. It was all giant framed paintings and gold, rooms with expensive looking sofas that had probably never been sat on and delicate china and crystal. She kept her hands at her sides, nervous about bumping into anything.

A grey haired woman in a plain black dress crossed their paths and Elijah waved her over.

"Marie, This is Caroline, a guest of Niklaus."

She didn't miss the confused look on the woman's face, or the way her gaze held on Caroline's dirty and matted hair, the men's shirt she was still dressed in, her dirty bare feet.

"She'll be needing clothes, toiletries, will you put in a call and have them delivered to the guest room?"

"Yes Mr. Mikaelson. Which guest room will she be staying in?"

_There was more than one?_

"I imagine he'll want her in the one near his room."

She felt like she was living in a dream as the strange man led her though the strange house. She didn't know this place or this person, and she could only trust that Klaus would come back, that he wouldn't leave her alone with someone who might hurt her. Everything had been torn away when the plane blew up. Klaus was all she had, and he wasn't here. She didn't like being away from him, and she hated feeling that way. She didn't want to need him. She walked up the grand staircase and found herself being led down a hall full of portraits. Some looked very old, families from generations ago. Stern looking Anglican faces, cold eyes, serious people. There were more recent ones, portraits of individuals.

She noticed one on the wall that looked very much like the man she was standing next to, although perhaps a few years younger.

"Is that you?" She asked Elijah.

"It is." He responded, looking a bit embarrassed. "Mother had one of each of us commissioned a few years ago. Would you like to see the one of Niklaus?"

She smiled and nodded.

He walked a bit further down the hallway and pointed out another.

She looked up and saw him.

He was perhaps a few years younger, his hair was longer, but it was him. He was sitting in some fancy chair like a king, smirking at the viewer. It was as realistic as a photo, and she had to look close enough to see the brush stroked to be convinced it wasn't. The artist had added a grey wolf at his feet, obviously a nod to his moniker. He looked intimidating, like someone who would calmly smile as they cut you into pieces. There was no sight of the person she had gotten glimpses of when they were alone. Something about the memory of the him she knew, the one who wasn't in the picture, made her smile.

Elijah carefully studied the way she looked at the portrait, as if it would unlock some secret about what she was doing there.

"I'll show you to the guest room." He said.

They passed a few more doors down the hallway and he tapped on one.

"This one is Niklaus." He said, pointing to the door. He tapped on another one in the hallway. "Our sister's room is this one over here. I assumed he would want you to be close?"

"Oh, probably." she concurred. She had gotten so used to him being right there. It would be strange to be apart from him, even if he was only down the hall.

They passed a few more doors, then he opened another one, leading into a large bedroom with an impressive four poster bed and it's own private bath.

She looked around the room, taking in the sight of it all.

Elijah leaned against a wardrobe, studying her.

"What are you to my brother?

"He said I was his friend."

"I know what he said. I'm asking you."

"I don't really know what I am to him." she said quietly.

"He brought you into our mother's house. That means you know who we are."

"Yes." she gulped.

She was feeling less and less comfortable being alone in a room with this man.

"You would do well to remember that while you're here." Elijah said, his tone casual, but carrying a threat she understood. "It would be a shame if something happened to you."

She stood under his watchful gaze for a few more minutes, afraid to say anything.

The housekeeper quietly stepped in to hand Caroline a change of clothes and mentioned that more would be on the way.

He pointed her to the bathroom, pausing to give her ratty appearance a judgmental glance, then left the room.

It wasn't until Elijah left her alone that she noticed she was holding her breath.

* * *

He paused at the heavy door into her study. With a sigh, he opened it.

She was at her chair behind the desk, surrounded by stacks of papers and empty glasses.

"My baby!" She gasped, jumping up from her seat.

It was the type of behavior she only exhibited when she was alone with her children. To everyone else she was a frightening ice queen.

"Mother." he smiled.

"Oh, my baby, my wolf." she said, hugging him tight. "I worried and worried for you. My little wolf."

"Everything's fine, mother. I'm alive. It all worked according to plan."

"I nearly killed your brother. Late again."

"It's fine. You worry too much."

She ignored his protests and continued fussing over him, checking him over for injuries, kissing his cheeks, going on and on about all the grey hairs he was giving her.

"I'll kill every one of those pigs who took you. We've already found a bomb to plant in that station. No one puts you in a cell. I'll blow it to bits."

"Honestly mother, everything's fine. Couldn't have planned it better. My assumed death in the crash is going to work out better than if I never got caught."

"I wouldn't let them take you, not after Finn."

She licked her finger to clean a smudge of dirt off his face. He cringed. Was he eternally five years old to her?

"We'll find a way to get him out. We always find a way." He reassured her.

"What is this?" she asked, motioning to the cuts on his hands.

"Nothing, mother, I'm fine."

"Who were you fighting with? Not Kol?"

"It's really nothing. I did fall out of a plane, you know. A few scratches are inevitable."

"The plane crash was four days ago, these are fresh."

"I, uh." he stumbled. Why did she always have to be a step ahead?

"Does it have anything to do with that girl you brought with you?"

Make that two steps ahead.

"What, you didn't think the guards would let me know you brought some girl into my home?" she protested. "I'm not a fool, Niklaus."

"I was going to tell you." He said.

"What's going on? I don't have a clearance sheet on her. Who is she?"

He paused, trying to think of a lie she would believe.

"And don't bother lying to me, you know I always find out."

"She's a girl. I am ... interested in her."

"That's not all." His mother said, studying his face. "What else is she?"

"She's a Forbes. Under the Council age. She knew nothing until I told her."

"I don't remember approving this. We agreed to start with the Lockwood and Gilbert boys and see how it went before taking more. I was very clear about you not bringing either of them into this house. Not yet."

"I didn't go after her to recruit her. That's something I found out later."

"Later? So you think you met a council child by accident? She's setting you up."

"No, she didn't know. She didn't approach me. She was supposed to die in the plane. I just couldn't..." He trailed off

"This isn't smart, Niklaus." She said. "Be very careful, my son. Remember the words."

"I know the family words."

"She can't be trusted. You'd be wise to get rid of her."

"Mother, please. She's important to me."

"Important? Like the Petrova girl was? Do you have any idea how much work it was for me to patch up things with the Petrovas after that all went to hell? We almost lost that alliance."

"Elijah was the one who-"

"I've heard it before, and I've heard Elijah's story as well. Are we going to have the same mess?"

"This is different." He protested. For the first time, he worried that maybe it wasn't. Perhaps he shouldn't have left Caroline alone with Elijah. He wanted to get back to her as soon as possible.

She shook her head. "You can make your own decisions, but don't expect my blessing on this. And I swear, if you do a thing to put this family in danger, I will not hesitate..."

He nodded in understanding.

"Go get ready for dinner. I guess we'll all find out what kind of table manners this Forbes child has."

* * *

He went to his room and showered quickly, not wanting to leave her alone too long. He stepped out of the bathroom and wrapped a towel around his waist, walking back into the bedroom.

Elijah was waiting there, rummaging through his clothes.

"Wear this." Elijah said, handing him an outfit.

Klaus rolled his eyes and took the clothes, stepping back into the bathroom to change.

"Are you going to tell me what this is about?" Elijah asked.

"Don't worry about it." Klaus shrugged, walking out of the bathroom clothed.

"It's my job to worry about it. I don't want to waste my time cleaning up another of your messes."

"There won't be any mess."

"Tell me what's going on."

"I need to make a trip, and I need her to stay here."

"A trip?"

"I'm going to kill Damon Salvatore. I need her to stay out of the way."

"So stay here and babysit your own hostage. We'll send in a team."

"No. I'm doing this one myself."

"Is that really necessary? The last time you and him squared off, it escalated rather quickly. How are your ribs, by the way?"

"I know him now. I know how he thinks. I can beat him, I just need your help."

"You can't go straight for Salvatore. Have you learned nothing from last time?"

"Then I won't go straight for him."

Elijah sighed and leaned against the wall.

"You'll need to get to Logan Fell first. His brother too. Salvatore's more vulnerable without them. That'll be a job in itself, the Miami business is growing. Even then, Salvatore tends to stay in Mystic Falls. You wont be able to touch him there."

Klaus nodded. "I can get him out, with the right leverage."

"Why is this so important? We've always had a mind to take him out, but why risk it? Why now?"

"It's personal."

"We don't get personal when it comes to family business. Be smart about this."

"I need you to help me with this. Be my brother."

Elijah sighed and nodded. "Where do we start?"

"Put eyes on him. I want to know where he goes, who he talks to, who he cares about."

"Can we trust Lockwood to go back into Mystic Falls? An insider would be best for this."

"No, I don't want him involved. If we need to use an insider, use the Gilbert boy instead."

"Very well, I'll talk to Kol about it."

A bell rang downstairs.

Dinner was ready.

* * *

**the falls, midnight. -V.**

Katherine looked at the message one more time and hesitantly approached the gathering of people around the tiny fire pit.

Elena caught her eye first. Sitting right between the Salvatore brothers again, how shocking.

The sisters just nodded to each other, a cold greeting.

"Have you seen Jeremy?" Elena finally asked.

"No." Katherine replied. "I just got back. I thought he was still staying with you."

"Oh, he's been gone for a few weeks, said it was a hunting trip or something, but I was worried he might be using."

"And what? You thought he was using with me?"

"Hey, Katherine." Bonnie said, a little hesitantly, trying to halt the building argument between the twin sisters. "I didn't know you were coming."

"I invited her." Matt said, stepping back to the group with a bottle he had retrieved from his truck.

Vicki smiled at her from behind Matt, she was also only there because Matt would welcome them in. The rest of the group wasn't as friendly and would never have thought to invite them.

Katherine nodded to Vicki, then mouthed an appreciative _Thank you_ to Matt. The others wouldn't be so cold to her if they thought he had invited her along. Sometimes it killed her just how selfless he could be, always looking out for others. He really was her opposite in every way.

Matt found seats around the fire for himself, Vicki and Katherine and passed around the bottle.

Bonnie stood up.

"Alright, we're all here because we loved Caroline. This was one of her favorite places and if I know anything about her, I know she would have wanted us all to have a drink in her memory and talk about how awesome she was." She raised her glass. "To Caroline."

"To Caroline." the rest of them concurred, clinking their cups and downing their drinks.

"I remember the the first time she and I hung out, just the two of us." Stefan said quietly. "I had just started dating Elena, and she decided that she and I needed to get to know each other if I was going to be in Elena's life."

"I thought she was trying to steal you away from me." Elena laughed.

"She wasn't. She was being a good friend, trying to figure out if I was good enough for her best friend. She protected the people she loved, and it wasn't easy getting her to see me as good enough, but once she did, she was the best friend I ever had."

Bonnie smiled and nodded alone. She remembered Caroline calling her right after her meeting with Stefan, full of praise for Elena's new boyfriend.

"Care and I used to joke that if Elena and I ever got married, she would have to be the maid of honor and the best man." Stefan laughed.

Damon glared at him.

"I guess I'll never get used to her not being here." Stefan sighed.

"I brought this." Bonnie pulled something out of her purse.

It was the Miss Mystic Falls crown Caroline had won back in high school.

"I stole it from her mom's house. I thought... we could pass it around, and each of us could say something we wished we could say to her."

"Can I go first?" Matt asked.

He took the crown.

"If I could see Care again, I guess I would say that I wished she was here to be around for everything, and that" He looked over at Damon. "She didn't deserve any of the things that happened to her. We should have done more for her. She deserved a lot more than she got."

Katherine leaned over and took the crown.

"Hey Caroline. I just wanted to say thanks. What you did, it was really nice, and no one else did anything like that for me."

Everyone looked to her for an explanation.

"That was for Caroline." She snipped. "Not you nosy bitches."

She passed the crown.

* * *

She was left alone for what felt like hours, but the clock on the nightstand revealed it was only minutes. Time seemed to go by slower here, especially as she sat in the guest room with nothing to do but wait. She had showered and changed into some clothes that the kind looking older women brought her. She was relieved to finally be clean and wearing proper clothes.

The woman softly knocked on the door and escorted her downstairs. She was left alone in a sitting room, awkwardly looking at all the treasures adorning the tabletops, the family portraits and snapshots around the room. A chess board with pieces set up. She gave it a quick once over. Whoever was playing black was winning.

Caroline walked around the room, taking it all in. She noticed the piano first, and wondered which of them knew how to play. Probably none, rich people bought those things for decoration alone. He didn't seem to her like the kind of person who grew up with a silver spoon, but really, she didn't know much about him. Or herself. Not until he told her on the boat. Now she looked back to all the signs, the whispers of visitors that came in the middle of the night, the meetings her mother was always attending. They always said it was the town council, the bridge repair committee. Although, there were years of weekly meetings and the bridge never did get repaired.

He rushed into the room, startling her a bit. His hair was wet and he had a clean outfit on.

"Sorry about that, just a few things that needed to get settled. Lets eat, shall we?"

She just nodded.

He hesitated before they entered the dining room.

"Listen, whatever they say, don't take it personally."

She scrunched her brow. Why would they have anything to say to her? She was just a hostage.

They walked into the room and a regal looking woman in an expensive dress walked up to her and gave her a judgmental look.

"Esther Mikaelson." she said, holding out her hand.

"Caroline Forbes."

Ester shook her hand firmly, and then took her seat at the head of the table, motioning for the rest of them to follow suit. She didn't smile once. Klaus and Elijah sat at her sides, with Caroline and Kol next to each of them.

"Well, I think that's the first time I've ever shaken hands with a Forbes." Esther said.

Kol snorted a laugh.

The food arrived in front of them and Esther motioned for them to start.

"Caroline Forbes." She said, drawing out each syllable. "I'm sure my sons reminded you that you are a guest in this house and that you should behave accordingly."

"Thank you for having me." Caroline answered weakly. _A guest, that's what she called it_?

"Well I've always had difficulties saying _No_ to Niklaus. Although if I had been forewarned he had planned on bringing a Council whelp into my home I probably would have told him to take you elsewhere."

"Mother." Klaus growled.

"Don't worry, Niklaus. I won't throw your little friend out, unless she gives me a reason. And she won't." Esther turned to Caroline. "Your mother still lives at 185 Oak Lane in Mystic Falls, isn't that right Caroline?"

The color drained from Caroline's face. She just nodded. The threat Esther was making was clear, even in her cordial tone.

Klaus tried to reassure her, placing a hand on her knee under the table. She pushed his hand away. It felt like a lead blanket holding her in place, keeping her trapped next to the terrifying woman who was looking at her like she wanted to hold her down and pull her fingernails out one by one.

"Mystic Falls? So you must know my brother's protege, the Lockwood boy?" Elijah asked pleasantly.

Caroline nodded. "Yes." she responded, not wanting to elaborate.

Klaus's knife scratched along his plate as he pushed a bit too hard cutting his food.

"Oh, didn't you hear? Lockwood's under my tutelage now." Kol smirked.

"You're kidding." Elijah sniffed. "Niklaus spent half his time in Johannesburg this year training that boy. Why would he let you take over and ruin all his hard work?"

"Probably afraid of a little competition." Kol smirked. "You see, Nik's been making eyes at this one" He motioned to Caroline with his knife in hand, "Ever since I picked him up, and it turns out, she has a history with Lockwood. A very recent history."

"What kind of game is this, Niklaus?" Elijah asked. "Do you really think upsetting such a delicate alliance is a good idea? For what? Some little show proving you control everything, flaunting your dominance by taking his girl from under his nose?"

"No one's taking me. I'm not with Tyler anymore and I'm not with Klaus." she protested, "So you can stop talking about me like I'm not here."

"Not with him? That's not what it looked like to me." Kol smirked.

"Can we talk about anything else?" Klaus said behind gritted teeth.

Kol made a mocking kissy face at Caroline.

"Yes, perhaps we could talk about why you brought a Council child you've known for only days into _our mothers house_." Elijah spat.

"Don't worry, Elijah." Esther said calmly. "She knows it's in her best interest to not cause us any harm." She stared daggers at Caroline that implied death and destruction at the slightest misstep.

"So, Caroline." Kol interjected, trying to break the tension. "We're all dying to know. Who's better, my brother or Lockwood? Did Niklaus really teach that boy everything he knows?"

Esther put a hand to her forehead, embarrassed by her younger son's brashness.

Kol wiggled his eyebrows at Caroline, enjoying how his taunts made her uncomfortable.

Klaus's steak knife flashed across the table and landed right between Kol's pointer and middle finger.

"I warned you." He growled.

"Always resorting to the baser option." Elijah sniffed. "How very _Niklaus_."

"Oh give it a rest, Elijah, you're no cleaner than the rest of us." Kol sneered.

"Enough!" Esther shouted. "It's like you boys never grew up!"

The rest of dinner was a mix of old squabbles being rehashed as the brothers chewed each other apart. She tried to keep up but so much of it was said in half code, references to past arguments and transgressions. In the end, they only managed to keep from tearing each other apart because Esther had commanded them to settle down, and sent them to cool off separately.

* * *

Caroline had slipped out the back door sometime after they finished eating and before the three brothers stood up to scream at each other across the room.

It wasn't really slipping out. One of the silent guard who had been in the shadows of the room the whole time followed her out. She noticed how he and Esther exchanged glances, as if she gave him approval to let her walk, but keep an eye on her.

She walked, feeling the person behind her keep a respectable distance. She turned around, not sure if she should be making conversation, but he avoided her eyes. He was trained to be a shadow, not a companion.

Somehow she ended up at the stables. The guard walked silently behind her, staying a few paces away. She wandered through the barn, walking between rows of stalls. One horse in particular caught her attention, nudging it's nose out from the stall door.

She hesitantly held out her hand, the way she was trained to greet a new dog, let them sniff you and wait before reaching further. The horse rubbed it's nose against her hand so she carefully moved a bit closer to pet it's neck.

It nuzzled closer, resting it's chin against her as she pet it. She was careful, respectful of the animal's power, but not afraid. It could bite her, cause serious harm, could injure her just by jerking it's head. But she cautiously continued petting it, trusting it wouldn't hurt her.

"You like horses."

She rolled her eyes at him. Of course he would find her out here.

"Leave us." Klaus said to the guard.

They were alone.

"That was quite a show at dinner." She replied.

"My brothers and I can get a little carried away. I would rather you didn't see that."

She ignored him, and continued petting the horse.

"That one's mine. Odin." He said, motioning to the horse she was petting. "He isn't usually so friendly."

"Well maybe I'm the first person he's been around who isn't a murderer."

He laughed.

"I guess he's a good judge of character. So far, he's only taken a liking to me, my youngest brother, the stable hand who always brings him apples, and you."

"He likes Kol but not Elijah?"

"He'll throw either of them off if they try to ride him. Bit Kol once. No, he likes my brother Henrick."

"I didn't realize there were so many of you."

"There's also another brother and our sister. Our brother Finn has been... away for some time now."

"It must be nice, having such a big family."

"It can be, when we're not at each other's throats. Do you have any siblings?"

"No. I've always wished I did."

"Take one of mine. Kol, perhaps?"

She smiled a little. "I think I'll pass."

She continued petting the horse, who had now taken to rubbing his head against her whenever she stopped petting him, demanding her continued attention.

"I suppose I should apologize for my family's behaviour."

"You were the one who almost stabbed a blood relative at the table. Good thing you missed, or Kol would be minus a finger."

"I never miss. I didn't want to get blood on the table, we were eating."

She shook her head at his arrogance and kept petting Odin, not turning to look at Klaus.

"Well then I apologize for my family's behaviour, as well as my own. I wish I could tell you it won't happen again, but you and I agreed not to lie to each other."

She smiled just a little. She didn't always trust him and she was usually afraid, but she believed him when he said he wouldn't lie. She trusted that he had told the truth so far. Who else was always truthful with her? Not Damon, not Tyler, not even her own parents.

He couldn't see her face, Odin was nuzzling against her and blocking the view.

He shifted awkwardly, trying to find ways to get her to talk to him, trying to find things to say. It was strange, seeing Odin be so friendly with anyone. He was a surly horse who either ignored or tried to bite most people._ Think of something. Say something that'll make her think you're smart. Say anything to fill the silence._

"You know, horses are the opposite of people. They're loyal. I've had this one for half my life."

She cautiously glanced over at him.

"The other half..." He trailed off.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing, just thinking."

"Tell me."

"I had another horse, the first half of my life. When I was fifteen, my father severed it's neck with a sword, as a warning, I suppose, of what he would do to me if I continued to defy him."

She couldn't imagine it. He had grown up here, in such a strange mix of luxury and savage violence.

"I heard it from inside the house, by the time I got out here, there was nothing I could do but sit in the blood and watch him die."

She tried to think of something to say in response, but what could be said? At least his father was gone. He sounded like the worst parent a person could have. She was terrified of Esther, with her thinly veiled threats on her mother, she could only imagine how terrifying Mikael would have been.

"I'm sorry you had to grow up like that, I don't know what to say."

His eyes darkened a bit.

"I don't want sympathy from you. I don't know why I told you... forget it."

"What do you want from me?" She challenged.

"I want you to give me a chance."

"I did. And it led to me finding out that you and my family and everyone in my town are involved in some shady thing I never knew about. It led to me finding out my ex works for your, my friend's little brother. It led to you telling me you won't let me go home."

"I'm trying to keep you safe! I never lied to you. And I'll tell Kol to get rid of the Gilbert boy and Lockwood if that's what would make you happy."

"Get rid of? Like kill?"

"No! Just.. If they weren't on the boat, if you didn't know about your family's secret, would you be pushing me away like this?"

"It changes everything!"

"It changes nothing. My word is the same. I'll keep you safe. I can't do that it you're in Mystic Falls."

"Are you? Are you keeping me safe? Because I think you're keeping me within reach, because you just want to be in control of everything. And to answer your first question, yes I like horses. But I also like people. People I want to go home to. People who probably think I'm dead. But I can't do that because you're holding me hostage."

She stomped out of the barn and back into the house.

He sighed as he watched her leave, unable to find the words to make her stay.

She was right. He liked being in control. So did she. It would never be easy.

He absently pet Odin.

"She likes you just fine." He grumbled to the horse. "Me, not so much."

* * *

Caroline sat on the floor next to the bed and rifled through the shopping bags. There was a pair of cotton shorts with a matching tank top that would work just fine to sleep in, so she changed into them.

She splashed some water on her face in the bathroom and looked at her reflection. At least she was clean again, and she had her first hot meal in days. Now she would finally get to sleep in a bed, something she had been wishing for ever since she landed on that island.

She got into bed and turned out the lights.

Ten minutes and she was staring at the ceiling.

Twenty and she was tossing and turning.

Thirty and she still wasn't asleep.

An hour passed and she turned the light back on.

She tossed back the covers and got up to walk around the room. It was possibly the comfiest bed she had ever been in, so why couldn't she fall asleep?

Only a day ago she had been so sure that she could let him in. That she could trust him. Now it was all mixed up.

He had to go and tell her another personal story about his past. He probably knew it would just break her heart and make her want to comfort him, just like when she saw those awful marks on his back. It was all part of his stupid plan to make her fall for him or something.

It wasn't working.

Not at all.

She didn't want anything to do with him.

Nope.

And she wasn't thinking about kissing him again.

Not even a little. Never crossed her mind.

It wasn't that great.

She sat there and tried to convice herself to believe her own thoughts. Tried to will herself to snap out of it, stop thinking of him, stop feeling things she shouldn't be feeling.

Ok, so maybe he didn't lie. And he didn't do anything that bad. Not to her, at least. Other than keeping her from getting home. It was just a lot of information to take in all at once. She had every right to be mad about it.

She opened the door and looked down the hall. She could see a sliver of light shining from under the doorway Elijah had pointed out earlier. She tiptoed back into her room and put a long sleeved cardigan on over her pajamas before carefully walking down the hall.

* * *

Klaus flipped open the laptop and sorted through a few pages before opening the desk drawer. There were about ten burner phones, and he rummaged though them until he found the one with a 'T' marked on it.

He dialed.

The man picked up on the first ring.

"You're dead." The man said.

"Very." Klaus deadpanned.

"Code?"

"Xkre946gme9"

"I guess you aren't so dead. What do you need?"

"The prison..."

"I'm working my way through. Progress is slow, but it looks promising. But that's not what you called for."

"I need to get to Miami, then to Virginia."

"The Fells are building up. If you're going into Miami, it's not a one man job. And Mystic Falls, we never go into their turf, the odds aren't worth it."

"I can handle it. Just get me in."

"When?"

"Soon. I don't want to risk anyone knowing I'm alive."

"And the plan? I assume you have one. Or did you want to be dead for real this time?"

"I need to work under the cover of night in Miami. The day after Logan gets his shipment. He'll be more relaxed and most of his men will be out moving product instead of standing by his side. We'll get a girl to approach him at his club, go home with him, ask for a drink..."

"He'll make one for himself as well, she slips something in his, he's incapacitated and he's alone..." The man continued, understanding where the plan was going.

"Precisely."

The man on the other end of the phone chuckled. "Why is it that the type of men who roofie women never seem to see it coming when it happens to them?"

"Because they forget women are people. You can always count on a man like Logan Fell to underestimate them." Klaus mused.

"Mindy's on the east coast, she can get there whenever you're ready. I'll set it up. Call back tomorrow and I'll have the details."

He hung up.

Klaus was scrolling through pages of messages on the laptop, trying to get caught up on everything he had missed over the past few days. Elijah had sent him very detailed reports of each day. Kol had sent a few photos of his handiwork. He heard the slight creak of a door and turned around from his desk.

The light footsteps padded down the hall and stopped in front of his doorway. They moved back away from his doorway a few steps, then came back closer. He smiled as he pictured her on the other side of the door, trying to decide if she should knock or not.

He opened the door.

"Oh!" she gasped. "I didn't mean to, uh, I just, well, I was awake, and I thought maybe you were too."

"Come in." he smiled, shutting the door behind her as she slipped into the room.

She looked around, taking in all the little details, finding hints of him all over the room.

He shut the laptop and motioned to the bed.

"Please, sit." he offered.

She hesitantly climbed up and sat at the foot of the bed with her legs tucked to her side.

He swallowed as he looked over at her. Gorgeous long legs tapered down from those impossibly short shorts she was wearing. As his gaze went up her body he noticed the peek of cleavage that her flimsy little top exposed, the way the cardigan she wore hung off her shoulders loosely, as if he could pull it off with a flick of his finger. She was beautiful, and she was sitting on his bed. It was hard not to have certain thoughts.

"Is everything alright?" He asked.

"I couldn't sleep."

"Is there something wrong with your room?"

"No, it's great."

"Are you concerned about your safety?"

"Well now that you mention it." She replied sarcastically.

"But there was another reason you couldn't sleep? Something that led to you showing up at my door?"

"I was thinking about how, the last few night I slept so well next to you, even in the most uncomfortable places. Stupid, huh?"

"That was before you knew I was your family's enemy, that I lured your ex boyfriend into joining the enemy team."

"It doesn't change how I feel about you."

"What? that I'm a disgusting criminal? Loathsome, vile?"

"Yes. But also, that you saved my life more than once, that there's more to you than your family name."

"You're giving me too much credit."

"I don't think you give yourself enough." she said. "I... You're not the person I thought you would be. Even though I'm really mad at you, there's so much I like about you. You thought I would hate you after you told me the truth. But you're the only one who hasn't lied to me."

"I don't think I could if I wanted to."

He watched her slowly get up off the bed and walk over to him.

"Do you think less of me, knowing who I am, who my family is?" she asked.

He had never considered it. So what if she was a Forbes? It made it a bit more of a challenge, but when had he ever backed down from one of those?

"No." He smiled. "But I don't think I'll be coming home with you to meet your mother any time soon." He joked.

She was almost within arms reach, hesitantly approaching him.

"No one from home reacted the way you did, when they found out." She said, picking up his hands. She traced over the cuts on his knuckles. "I don't understand it. It's almost like you care about me more than they do."

"Maybe I do." He said.

"I'm still mad at you." she reminded him.

"For the wall punching? Or for my rude family?"

"Both. And for keeping me hostage."

He watched her carefully. There were a lot of layers, a lot of lies and truths wound together. She was mad at him, but she was also begging him to do anything that could justify her not being mad. She didn't want to be. She wanted to be happy. And she had come into this room of her own free will, plopped herself down on his bed and announced that she would prefer to sleep next to him.

He had stayed on the opposite side of the room, trying to hold himself back. Trying to keep his hands and lips to himself. He was being good. Not pushing her, not manipulating her vulnerable position and isolation in his house. He was trying to be the person who did good things and saved people instead of the person he usually was. But then she was walking over to him, picking up his hands in her own. He needed more. He needed her to want to kiss him again, but he knew she wasn't all of the way there yet. She was there, in his bedroom, holding his hands, looking at him like she was trying, really trying to give him a chance. It took every ounce of willpower to keep from scooping her up and pinning her to the bed, running his mouth all over her, ripping off those flimsy clothes. Her yawn inturrupted his daydream, and he pushed the thoughts of what might be away and focused on the sleepy girl in front of him.

He used the hands she held to pull her closer.

"I'm still mad at you." She repeated. This time it was softer, gentler. She didn't let go of his hands.

"I know." He sighed.

He walked over to the bed with his hands in hers, only letting go to slide in and pull her up next to him.

They weren't going to talk about it and he wasn't going to ask her if she wanted to sleep there. They both knew that's why she was there, but she would deny it. They wouldn't talk about what ever they were at the moment, with the strange mix of trust and suspicion, animosity and fondness. They would just sleep.

She shrugged out of the sweater so she was just in her shorts and camisole, and curled herself against him.

He flicked off the lights and wrapped his arms around her, tracing little patterns against her lower back with his fingers until she fell asleep.

* * *

Kol and one of the guards were slouched on a couch in the den, controllers in hand as they battled video game characters on the tv in front of them.

"How can someone who's so good at killing people in real life be so bad at killing people in a game?" Kol mused.

"Some of us have other things to do than sit around and play video games."

"I'm paying you for this."

"No, your mother is paying me. And that's to be in the house and be awake in case anything happens. Not to keep you entertained."

"I'm delightful company. You'd be so bored if I went out tonight."

"Pfft." The guard huffed. "I should be getting paid double for babysitting your ass."

There was a beep as the front door opened, and the guard absently placed a hand on his gun, even though there were several others in the house.

"Maybe Nik's girl is running away from his ugly face." Kol muttered.

"Someone's stationed at the end of the hall, another outside her window." The guard muttered.

"You do think of everything, don't you?"

"I was trained well."

"I'll take credit for that."

"It was Finn, you nut."

A figure blocked the tv in front of them.

"Well?" She demanded.

Rebekah was clad in some skimpy outfit and smelled like cigarettes and booze. She swayed a little where she stood and her glittery eye makeup was smudged.

Kol stood up and assessed his sister.

"Look what we have here. 3 am, you come strolling in. Out all night, what a scandal."

"You're one to talk about scandals, Kol."

"And who have you been rolling around with tonight, Bekah?"

"Is he back?"

"Obviously. I'm here. He's in his room, probably sleeping."

She smiled. "I'll wake him up."

* * *

Rebekah got halfway up the stairs before she stopped to pull her shoes off. She ran down the dark hallway, only pausing to chuck her shoes in her own bedroom before running to his.

She was giggling as she scurried down the hall, ready to wake her favorite brother up. She had missed him so much. It was unbearable, the waiting, mother's anxiety, Kol's excuses. She hadn't been sober since they got word he was captured. She just went out and drank and danced until she couldn't feel her feet anymore. Anything to distract her from him being gone.

His light was off.

Oh well, he wouldn't mind being woken up. After all, she was his baby sister.

She flung open the door and jumped on the foot of his bed.

"Nik! Nik, wake up!"

"Hffmperrmm?" He grunted.

"Nik, it's me! Wake up" Rebekah said, jumping on top of him, shaking him awake.

She stumbled a bit to the side and her arm bumped into something.

That something let out a girly squeak.

Rebekah flinched back. She stumbled off the bed and turned on the light, making him groan and cover his eyes.

She looked down at the girl next to him. Typical. Some half naked twit.

"Oh, you must be joking." She muttered.


	9. Chapter 9

Caroline blinked a few times to adjust to the sudden light. She had just been woken out of a dead sleep, confused enough as it was to be waking up in an unfamiliar place. His bedroom.

The girl burst into the room, a flash of blonde and glitter and jumped right on top of him. Then she elbowed Caroline in the stomach and scrambled to turn on the light.

_The girlfriend. _Caroline thought._ He has a girlfriend. Or wife? Oh, god, I'm the other woman. No, I didn't do anything. Not really. It was just a few kisses. I didn't know. _

Of course he had a girlfriend the whole time. Deep down, she had known it was just a game. And now the very angry looking girlfriend was probably going to choke her to death.

"Oh you must be joking." The girl muttered. "Here, Nik? In this house?"

"Bekah." He grunted. "Stop."

"No." she shouted louder. She picked up his alarm clock and threw it across the room. "How dare you? I worried so much for you. My heart broke for you. Every day I thought you might be dead, or worse. I thought I would never see you again."

"I'm back, it's fine." He grumbled, sitting up.

"All I do is worry for you, you don't even care!"

"Rebekah, I don't understand why..."

"You couldn't wait? You couldn't just spend one day with the family before going back to your usual antics? For all your talk of family, you don't give a damn about us. You're selfish, dragging in some cheap girl when you should be with us. We're the ones who you have to thank for being alive and free, not locked in a box like Finn."

"Not another word." He growled.

Rebekah looked at Caroline for the first time since she started yelling. She shook her head with disgust.

"And what are you waiting for? Cab fare?" She spat. "Here." She dug through her purse and flung a few bills at Caroline. "Get out."

Caroline was facing a fight or flight moment. She wanted to get out of there, she didn't want to face off with some girl who wanted to fight over someone who was obviously a cheater and liar. But would she be able to just walk out of the house? There were armed guards everywhere. She backed up on her elbows a bit, sitting up, but unable to find the courage to run from the room.

He got out of the bed and got dangerously close to Rebekah.

"Shut up!" He shouted. "You stop this childish-"

"I'm childish? I am? You're the one who's childish enough to drag one of your whores into our mother's house! Can't go a single night without? The only shred of decency you had was keeping it confined to your flat. A different girl every night, always gone by morning."

_Wait, did she say our mother? _Caroline thought._ Oh course. He said he had a sister. _

Rebekah shot Caroline an impatient look.

"Why are you still here? Waiting for seconds? Get out!"

"She's not leaving, Bekah."

Rebekah laughed.

"Fine. Go ahead, I'll leave you to it. Have another hour with her, say whatever it is you say to them. I'll see you at breakfast when she's gone."

Caroline just sat there, propped up on her elbows, watching them scream at each other, unable to move.

Rebekah glanced back at Caroline's shocked expression.

"Oh, you didn't think you were special, did you?"

And Caroline's heart sank, because, honestly, she thought she was. To him at least. But she wasn't. Apparently he had a pattern.

"Get out." He barked at Rebekah. "If you can't be civil to her get out of my room."

"Why are you pretending? What's all the fuss for? You'll be bored of her by daylight. You're wasting time you should be spending with us."

"You don't know what you're talking about, Bekah."

"And I suppose the two women I saw walking away from your flat when I went to visit a few weeks ago didn't know what they were talking about either? Or the one from the time before that? I guess I should know better than to visit you first thing in the morning, before you take out the trash."

"Give it a rest Bekah, Caroline is my guest! We were _sleeping_."

"Oh, wow, you even took the time to learn her name this time. Don't patronize me, Nik." She said, rolling her eyes._ Sleeping. Right._

"Don't get so worked up when you do the same thing."

"No, I don't."

"Oh, of course not. There's a different boy every month or two, each one the love of your life. Is that about right?"

"At least I let people in. At least I know how to love. You're just some selfish man-child who can't-"

"You should know better. It's your own downfall, every time. And it always falls on me to pick up the pieces, so if someone here is selfish-"

"You know what, fine. Is it selfish for me to hope that maybe I'll find something, that maybe I can be in love? Then I'll be selfish. At least I'm not some coward, too afraid to let anyone see them, too closed off to love anything but himself. I let people in."

"And how often does that work out for you?"

"Fuck you, Nik."

"So good to be back, sister." He said sarcastically.

The door slammed. They could hear her stomp down the hall and open, then slam the door to her own room.

Caroline didn't want to look at him. She was too embarrassed. What was she thinking, coming into his room, saying she felt something for him, inviting herself to sleep next to him in his bed?

He was standing next to the bed, facing away from her.

She slipped out and grabbed her sweater from the floor before padding across the room. She couldn't get to his door without crossing by him, so she did the next best thing and went into his bathroom.

She felt herself shiver as she sat on the floor with her back pressed against the cold porcelain of the tub, and she pulled the sweater around herself. She closed her eyes and sat on the floor, trying to collect her thoughts.

_you didn't think you were special, did you?_

_a different girl every night._

_say whatever it is you say to them._

_bored of her by daylight._

The words echoed over and over again in her head. He hadn't exactly denied any of it. The whole epic ordeal was just a charade. That was probably his thing, making girls feel like he was their hero, getting them to fall for him, then moving on to play the same game with someone else. She felt a sting in her eyes and blinked furiously. She wouldn't cry.

_You never really liked him anyway. _She reminded herself. _You just started to feel things because he was the only one around, and he was keeping you alive. That's all. You would have known better if it wasn't for the isolation. You would have seen through it._

He was fuming at Bekah for stomping in and airing his dirty laundry. He knew that if things with Caroline lasted, it would come out eventually. But he was hoping for later rather than sooner, and maybe by then it wouldn't matter. He had expected Kol to be the one to say something about it, he had planned for that and warned him to keep his mouth shut. Never underestimate an angry woman.

Bekah was being unreasonable. What did she expect, a bloody family reunion at three in the morning? He would catch up with her in the morning, he was trying to get a decent night's sleep for once.

He heard Caroline get up and go into the bathroom.

He waited and waited.

What was she doing in there?

He knocked on the door and she ignored it.

"Caroline?"

No answer.

Great. He had managed to anger two women at once.

With a heavy sigh he opened the door. At least she hadn't locked it.

She was sitting on the floor, curled up against the edge of the tub. He saw her shoulders tense up a little when he opened the door, but she wouldn't turn around to look at him.

"Hey" he said softly, sitting down on the floor across from her.

She pulled her arms tighter across herself and looked away.

He shifted, trying to get her to look at him. She scrunched her eyes shut. He could see tears streaming down her face as she tried her best to pretend he wasn't there.

He tucked a finger under her chin, tilting her head to face him. She opened her eyes and they were red from crying.

As soon as she looked at him she started crying again. He felt that strange clawing inside his chest again, that weird awful feeling he didn't understand. He felt it because she was crying and it was because of him.

He curled his hand to the side of her face, using his thumb to wipe away the tears.

She hated that she leaned into it, that she took what she could in that moment, that she felt better when he was touching her.

"Why are you doing this?" She whispered.

"Doing what?"

"Whatever this game is, I don't want to play anymore."

"I'm not-" he protested.

"It's all true, isn't it? Everything she said?"

"Not the part about you."

"Right." She scoffed. _Say whatever it is that you say to them_. "So what, this is different? You're expecting me to believe that?"

"I mean it. I would rather you not know all the things Rebekah insisted on sharing, I'm sorry she was so rude to you."

"She seems to be used to seeing you with strange women."

"She is." He conceded, looking a bit guilty. "But that doesn't mean anything"

Caroline sniffed and wiped away a few new tears. "I just feel stupid."

"Why?"

"Because I was starting to believe you. I thought everything you were saying was real, I thought that I wasn't just some throwaway person to you.

"Caroline, it is real, you're not a throwaway person."

"But I am. I've always been. I'm the person everyone says no to because they want Elena. I'm the person people date because Elena turned them down. I'm the disappointing daughter that will never be as brave or tough as my Sheriff Mother. I'm the one who doesn't matter. I'm the person who bad things keep happening to and everyone just expects me to get over it, and I pretend to, so they don't feel too uncomfortable to be around me."

She was going on her rant, crying until the tears blurred her vision. He shifted over to her side and carefully put his arm around her, pulling her against him. She let him do it, leaned into him, buried her face into his shirt.

"I'm just this person that everyone throws away or forgets has feelings, just because I smile through it and I say I'm fine and I try to look happy, but I'm not and this just keeps happening-"

"Stop. Caroline, stop." He said, "You don't have to be around people like that. Stay with me."

She shook her head at him "And you swoop in and pretend to save me. Save me from what? From what you did? You didn't save me, you spared me. And you keep looking at me like that, like I mean something, like you feel something. And like an idiot, I bought it. But it's all a game, isn't it? This is what you do."

"I don't do this. I never do."

"You do this all the time. Just like she said. A different girl every night."

"No, I mean _this_. I don't feel. I don't care. I never care about anyone who isn't family. _This_ is different."

"Why? You expect me to believe that I'm different from everyone else, that I'm something special to you? Why? I'm nothing. I don't know anything about the Council. I can't help you."

"I don't want you to help me with that."

"Then what do you want from me?"

_Everything._ He thought. _All of you._

She picked up his hands, wrapping hers around his wrists so her fingers were at his pulse points. She couldn't read it the way he could, but it sent a clear message.

"This time you tell me the truth." She said, trying to sound authoritative instead of nervous. "What do you want from me?"

"I want you to stop pretending."

"I'm not-"

"Yes you are. You're pretending you don't feel anything for me when I know you do. I know you're afraid of me and I know that's not all you feel, but you hide it. And you do it with them too, those people you call friends. You pretend to be happy to make people around you feel better."

She glared at him. Why did he always have to twist it around so he was in control? For one minute, she felt like she had the upper hand, but it was always him. She refused to respond to his statement. So what if she was pretending? What did it matter if it made things just a little easier?

"Your sister thinks I'm going to be gone by morning." she said.

"I guess we'll all have a laugh about it over breakfast."

"Do you usually kick them out before breakfast? Or do you pretend to like them a little longer?"

"Caroline, I don't want to talk about-"

"Do you even tell them to leave yourself, or do you have one of your servant soldiers do it?"

"I don't have a staff at my flat. That's only here. This isn't where I live most of the time."

"Oh, you only have one home full of servants. It must be nice, having an army of people at your beck and call, bringing you things."

"You're making assumptions."

"I think I got a pretty clear picture, from your family, this place. Your sister was pretty descriptive. Two girls at once last time? You must have been very busy."

"I can't change what I came from. I can't change what I've done in the past."

"It's not where you're from, it's who you are. You don't care about anyone, you think people are disposable."

"Maybe you should go back to the guest room." He said, glaring at her. How many times did she need him to say it? He cared about her, as improbable as it seemed, and he was getting tired of trying to convince her when she was too stubborn to admit that she felt something too.

"Why? Did I hit a nerve?" She spat, aware of just how dangerous her defiance was. She expected him to lash out, to hit her, anything, but she didn't care. He wasn't going to silence her.

"You should go." He growled.

"I get it. Your father didn't love you, so you don't think anyone else will. That's why you sister said you can't love anyone, isn't it? Why you think it's ok to mock her for falling in love easily? It's why even your family is behind a wall with you. Well guess what? You're never going to find a way to make people love you by threatening them or kidnapping them. You have to actually try to understand them, but you're too afraid of getting hurt to do that. Your sister was right. You're not just an asshole, you're a coward."

His teeth were clenched and fists balled up in anger. The rage in his face was frightening when he looked at her. She knew by his reaction that she was spot on.

He didn't have a response.

She got up and stomped past him, out of his room, back down the hall to the guest room. He didn't try to stop her.

She got in the guest room and closed the door behind her and leaned against it, blinking back tears. She wouldn't let them start up again. Not for him.

She took a moment to collect herself, then walked over to the window across the room. She looked out and found the moon in the night sky. It would be dawn soon. A series of black and white framed photos along the wall caught her eye. She found different members of the family, all looking far more natural than they were in the portraits out in the hall. There were a few of the horses as well. She tried to find one of the horse she had pet out in the stables.

There was a bang as her door flew open and bounced against the wall. She jumped and turned around to see him.

"You think you can just-" He started

"Just what? Speak my mind? Tell the truth?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about."

"I think I do."

"Why do you have to be so infuriating?" he protested "Why do you have to make everything more difficult?"

"Why do you have to be so controlling?" she spat back.

"You're so bloody stubborn."

"And you're pigheaded."

"Neurotic."

"Violent."

"Suspicious."

"Predatory."

"Unyielding."

"Repugnant."

He stomped across the room towards her. She stood her ground, holding her chin up. She wasn't going to run or cower. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

He reached her and she braced herself for the hit.

His hand moved past her and she flinched. It moved around the back of her neck, fingers tangling in her hair. He was pulling her to him.

"Repugnant?" He murmured in her ear.

"Horrible, loathsome..."

"Really?" he hummed, letting his nose drag across the side of her face. His hands moved from her neck and slid down her back.

"mmhmm." was the best she could do. She was having trouble coming up with another name to call him.

His face was right in front of hers, their noses almost touching.

She was the one who moved forward.

She did it because she wanted to, without thinking it through, without thinking about why.

Her lips pressed against his, she kissed him hard and moved her hands up his chest, grabbing handfuls of the fabric of his shirt.

He pulled back.

"I thought I was-"

"Shut up and kiss me before I change my mind."

He didn't need to be told twice.

His lips found hers again, and this time he was taking charge. He pushed against her, making her stumble back into the table she was standing in front of. His hips pinned her against it as his lips moved against hers, his tongue entering her mouth, tracing patterns with hers.

She tangled her hands in his hair, locking on to him as she deepened the kiss, refusing to back away.

A soft moan escaped her lips and he pulled her closer, his hands moving down her sides to cup her ass, gently squeezing and pushing her forward. Heat poured though her body as she pressed up against him.

His hands left her to paw at the table behind her, sweeping across it and knocking items to the floor with loud crashes. Then he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her up, sitting her on the table. She hooked her legs around him and slid to the edge of the table, pushing the heat of her core up against him. He rolled his hips towards her and she gasped into his mouth, feeling his hard length rub against her thorough their clothes.

He moved against her again and she whimpered, kissing him more franticly. He felt so impossibly good, and she wanted more. She wanted to tear away the clothes that separated them, to feel him against her, warm and thick and hard. She wasn't usually the type to sleep with someone so quickly, but she couldn't imagine waiting any longer. She needed to feel him inside her. He rolled his hips against her again and she raised hers to meet him, feeling something building up inside her as his erection burned a path up and down her center. His mouth opened and he sucked in his breath as she pushed her hips up against his, creating agonizing friction. He was as ready for her as she was for him. Her hands were shaking as she pulled his shirt off and flung it to the side. She ran her hands up and down his chest and arched her back, pushing herself closer to him.

His hands were moving under her shirt, cupping a hipbone, moving up her ribs, slowly teasing on their way up. When his hand moved across her breast, she pulled his lower lip into her mouth and sucked down hard. His fingertips kneaded her flesh artfully, slowly teasing a nipple, tracing little circles, alternating between firm and soft. Her breath was growing more ragged by the minute.

She braced herself against the table, sending another knickknack flying to the floor with a loud crash. He was leaning over her, continuing to rock his hips against hers as he explored her breasts. She wondered if they would even make it to the bed that was only a few feet away.

His lips broke from hers and moved down her neck. She hummed with pleasure when he kissed and sucked along the side of her neck. He was inching her shirt up, bunching it in his hand little by little. She tilted her head to the side as he continued to kiss her neck. Her eyes slowly opened, she caught sight of the doorway, noticing it was still wide open. And someone was standing in it.

She screamed, and Klaus jumped back, pulling his hand out of her shirt like it was on fire.

"What did I do? Did I hurt you?" He asked checking her over.

"No." She gasped, trying to pull herself together. "Kol."

"Kol?" He asked, scrunching his brow in confusion.

She pointed to the doorway.

"Don't stop on my account." Kol grinned, leaning against the door frame.

"How long have you been standing there?" She shouted at him.

"Do I look like a peeping Tom?" Kol asked, feigning offense.

"Yes."

"Relax, darling. I just got here. Heard yelling, more yelling, sounded like someone was throwing things. I wanted to see who was winning the fight."

"Kol." Klaus growled. "Go away."

"Why? So you can continue trashing the guest room while you tear each other's clothes off with the door open?"

"Just. Go." Klaus said, taking a few steps towards Kol, ready for a fight.

"It's a good thing Elijah and Bekah sleep like the dead. Next time... try not to be so noisy about it." Kol grinned, skipping away.

Klaus turned around to see Caroline sitting on the table with her legs curled in front of her, her hands in front of her face.

"It seems like I'm making a habit of apologizing for my family."

She just shook her head, covering her face in embarrassment.

He kissed the top of her head and walked over to close and lock the door.

She slowly got down from the table and looked around at the items scattered around the floor. A lamp was broken and there was a puddle on the carpet from where a vase full of fresh flowers had tipped over.

"The lamp... your mother's going to kill me."

He pulled her away from the crumbled flowers and broken lamp.

"It's fine. Leave it. I'll send someone out to get replacements, she'll never be the wiser."

"Send someone out... must be nice."

"It is." He grinned wolfishly. "Now, where were we?"

She looked nervously at the door, half expecting Elijah to burst in next so all of his siblings in the house could catch her in a compromising position with him.

"The moment's gone, isn't it?" He asked.

She nodded.

He pulled her into hug and felt her relax against him.

"Do you want me to stay here with you tonight?" He asked.

"Yes."

Unlike earlier in the night, she had no problem falling asleep in the guest room.

* * *

Elijah and Rebekah were sitting at the kitchen table, picking at the stacks of food set out in front of them.

Esther rushed through the kitchen, pausing to grab a piece of toast and take a sip of Elijah's tea.

"I'm off. Early meeting, your brother's coming home soon, give him a hug for me." She said.

"He came home yesterday." Rebekah said, looking a little confused. "By the way, did you know he brought a girl into his room?" she said haughtily.

"No one likes a tattle-tale, Bekah." Elijah muttered.

"I'm aware of the girl, although I would have hoped she would have the class to stay in her own room." Esther said, rolling her eyes. "I don't like it either, but you know how things go when we try to tell Niklaus what to do. I meant your other brother is on his way home. You know, fourteen, skinny as a rail, lucky if you get him to say two words all day."

"I knew something was missing." Rebekah joked. "Where is Henrik?"

"Hunting trip. I have to go. Love you." Esther said, checking her phone before walking briskly out of the room.

As soon as she left, Kol walked in rubbing his eyes.

"Coffee." he grumbled.

"You've spent far too much time in the states." Elijah said. "You know mother doesn't keep coffee in the house. We have tea."

"I'm going to need eight of those to get the caffeine I need to function." Kol whined. "I woke up out of a dead sleep last night, thought someone was robbing us."

Elijah handed him a cup of tea and continued drinking from his own.

"Heard yelling from Nik and Bekah's hall. Then crashing. I swoop in to save the day, only to get an eyeful of Nik dry humping the Forbes girl on a table. With the bloody door open."

Elijah spit out a mouthful of tea.

"Oh, calm down, Elijah, it wasn't_ this_ table. It was that nice oak one in the guest room. But really, there was a bed right there." Kol continued "I don't know why he wouldn't opt for that instead."

"She's a Forbes?" Rebekah screeched. "Please tell me the last name is just a coincidence and she's not-"

"She is." Elijah grumbled.

"And what? We're just going to let this happen?" Rebekah protested.

"I'm sure Niklaus has an exit strategy." Elijah reassured her. "He's not stupid."

"He might be." Rebekah protested. "He's never brought any of his girls here before, and he starts with her? Did he have some sort of head injury?"

"A beam did knock him unconscious back in Johannesburg." Kol conceded.

"She's not even that pretty." Rebekah huffed.

"Don't be petty." Elijah said.

"Petty would be yanking that cheap slut out of our house by her over processed hair."

"This is why you don't have friends." Kol said, picking through his eggs.

Rebekah was about to respond when she heard a creak down the hall and craned her neck to see who was walking towards the kitchen.

Klaus and Caroline walked in.

He acted as if everything was completely normal, motioning to Caroline to sit at the table while he pulled out some cups and plates for them. She missed the stern warning look he shot at his siblings as he walked across the kitchen.

"Good morning." she said awkwardly, embarrassed to meet Kol's eyes after what he walked in on the previous night.

Elijah offered up a polite "Good morning" in response.

"Good moaning, oops, I meant morning." Kol smirked.

Rebekah just looked right through her.

Klaus pulled a chair up next to Caroline's and started stacking food on her plate. He was making sure she had at least one of everything from the table on her plate, creating a mountain of food that threatened to topple over.

"You don't have to, I can't eat all that."

He waved it away and set a cup of tea and a glass of orange juice in front of her. He reached over to the center of the table for the little serving dishes of sugar and milk.

"We don't have any coffee in the house, I figured tea would work for today. What do you put in it?"

"And you think I try too hard." Rebekah scoffed. "Honestly Nik, are you going to cut her food up and feed it to her next?

"Bekah, why don't you-"

He was cut off by the sound of the front door opening, and a deep voice booming though the foyer.

"There's a new king of the jungle!"

Elijah smiled a bit as he stood up to walk towards whoever had let themselves into the house.

"I hope all you Mikaelsons like venison, because it's what's for dinner!" The voice shouted out again. "Where are you? I've got a badass hunter who needs his breakfast."

"Alaric." Elijah smiled, shaking the man's hand. "Where is he?"

"Driving the car around to the garage. I told him to dump the deer there so we can strip the meat off after we get some food in us."

"You let him drive your car?"

"The kid's fine. He drove the thing through the woods yesterday, not a scratch on it."

"Did I hear something about venison?" Kol asked.

Alaric walked into the kitchen with Elijah and slapped Kol on the back.

"He got two bucks. Both of them right between the eyes, from at least 300 meters. He's going to give all of you a run for your money. Kid's a natural."

Alaric walked over to the table and grabbed a plate, helping himself to some of the food. He noticed Caroline for the first time.

"Oh sorry. Alaric Saltzman." He introduced himself, offering his hand for her to shake. "You a friend of Becks?"

"No." Rebekah answered.

"Caroline." she responded, shaking his hand.

"She's with me." Klaus responded.

Alaric looked around the table, picking up on the tension.

"And she knows, so you don't have to make up some story." Klaus continued.

"Right." Alaric said. "New recruit?"

"No." Klaus snapped. "She's with me."

"Oh, like..."

"Yes." Klaus responded, putting his arm around Caroline in a clearly possessive manor.

Caroline and Rebekah both rolled their eyes at the same time, and they caught each other doing it. Caroline thought she saw the tiniest hint of a smile on Rebekah's face for only a moment.

A boy in his early teens slipped into the room quietly. He was tall and gangly looking with a mop of messy dark hair. He wore a bulky camera around his neck and looked down as he walked.

He quietly sat down between Rebekah and Alaric, and piled some food onto his plate.

"Hey, Henrik." Rebekah said.

"Hey." He quietly said.

"I heard you got us some dinner. Did you get any good photos?" She asked.

Caroline noticed how Rebekah's voice sounded softer, more gentle when she talked to Henrik.

He looked down at the camera and flipped though the pictures he had taken while he was camping. Some were bloody and disturbing, like a close up of the spatter that formed around a deer he had hit, while others were picturesque and beautiful images of the landscape.

"Nik would like that one." she said. "Why don't you show him?"

Henrik begrudgingly got up and shuffled over to Klaus, holding out the camera.

Klaus picked it up and looked at the image on the screen, nodding appreciatively.

"That's good, mate."

He handed the camera to Caroline so she could have a look.

She made sure her hands were clean and picked it up.

"No don't-" Henrik protested, embarrassed.

He cringed as he watched Caroline look over the image.

"It's stupid. Can I just have it back?" Henrik mumbled.

"No, this isn't stupid. It's great." Caroline protested. "Can I look at some of the other ones?"

Henrik nodded and looked at his feet.

"Wow, these are amazing, I think this one's my favorite." She said, holding the camera out to Henrik. "The way you used the branches in the foreground to divide the frame up into three distinct parts is really cool. No, wait, I think this one is my favorite. Did you zoom to 16?"

"14." Henrik said quietly, inching closer to her. "I just got really close."

"The details are incredible. Is this a Leica lens? I didn't think they put them in this type of camera."

"I built it myself." He said shyly. "I took the best parts from three cameras and used them to put this one together."

"Wow." Caroline said. "I can't even imagine... and this image quality is better than I've ever seen."

"I can enhance it more on my computer." Henrik said. "How do you know about cameras?"

"I used to take a lot of pictures in high school. Nothing as good as yours. Did you take those photos hanging on the wall in the guest room?"

"Mum put them there." Henrik said, looking embarrassed. "They're stupid. I just took those ones to practice developing film the old fashioned way."

Everyone else at the table was frozen in place, watching the conversation. Henrik never talked that much to anyone. He was painfully shy around strangers and even quiet around his family.

"I've always wanted to learn how to do that!" Caroline smiled. "We used to have a lab for it at my high school, but they got rid of it a few years before me. I think kids were getting high off the chemicals or something."

"I can teach you." Henrik said shyly, looking away from her. "I made a darkroom in the basement bathroom. I learned how by watching videos online, it isn't hard."

"I would love that." She smiled.

He looked hesitantly at Alaric. "Can I...?"

"As soon as we get the deer cleaned and the meat prepped, you can have the rest of the day off." Alaric conceded. "But I'm quizzing you tomorrow on the stuff we talked about."

Henrik nodded happily and scurried out of the room.

"That was..." Elijah said, trying to find the right word.

"Eerie?" Kol offered.

"Adorable?" Alaric joked.

"Unusual." Elijah settled on. "Very unusual."

Klaus smirked at Caroline.

"Now you have to stay."


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry about the wait for this chapter, real life has been kind of crazy recently, and I haven't had as much time to write. The next one will be up quicker. Anyway, I hope you like it, and again, thank you for reading and reviewing. **

* * *

Caroline had spent the better part of the day following Henrik around the property, watching him take pictures of different things with an old fashioned film camera. They had decided on black and white film, because it looked more classic.

Klaus had tagged along, watching them chat about film and cameras and different lenses and settings. He felt a bit annoyed at first, the way Henrik and Caroline practically ignored him and spent most of their time chatting with each other and finding things to take pictures of. Klaus had always been aware of his own selfishness. It was impossible to grow up with a parent like Mikael and not be constantly reminded of your own flaws. It was selfish, the impatience he felt, the way he tapped his foot and cleared his throat whenever she went too long without acknowledging him in some way. He should be happy for his brother, finding a kindred spirit. He had never seen Henrik so animated around someone who wasn't family. Even when it was just them it was rare to see him come out of his shell.

Henrik wanted Caroline to take some pictures too, so she took a bunch of the two brothers together in the stables. She was more of the point and shoot type, where Henrik planned his photos carefully, adjusting settings, trying different angles and zooms before finally pressing the button.

When they went down to the basement to the makeshift darkroom, Klaus left them alone and said he had to make a few calls.

Caroline was hesitant about him leaving, about him making those calls. She remembered what he had promised her about Damon Salvatore, and it made her uneasy to think he might be working on making that promise a reality. She didn't want anyone to die because of her.

* * *

He made his calls quickly and found himself sitting at the top of the stairs to the basement, listening to the two of them laugh and talk as they developed their pictures, unwilling to walk down there and interrupt. He couldn't see them, but he could hear clearly enough from where he sat.

"No, like this." Henrik explained patiently. "Otherwise it comes out all fuzzy."

He smiled, picturing the way his little brother's eyebrows always went up when he had his serious face on.

"So I mix this one and this one?" Caroline asked.

"Yup, and just stir a little before putting the paper in."

"Ok." She said hesitantly. "I can try now?"

There was silence downstairs and Klaus tried to imagine what she looked like as she concentrated on getting the steps just right. She was a total perfectionist, she would hate doing anything off by even a little bit.

"3...2... 1..." Henrik counted down.

"I can't reach the clothesline." She muttered.

"I got it."

"Thanks."

"It looks good. Want to try another one?"Henrik offered, his voice cracking a little.

Klaus felt someone sit down next to him at the top of the stairs.

"Henrik's in the darkroom again?" Esther asked.

He nodded. "Caroline's in there with him."

"Why are you letting her bother him?" Esther asked defensively.

"He asked her. He spent all afternoon taking pictures with her. He couldn't shut up the whole time."

Esther's brow scrunched.

Just then, the sound of Henrik's laughter floated up the stairs.

Esther leaned her head against Klaus's shoulder.

"It's been a long time since I've heard him laugh." she said.

"He likes her."

"It makes sense, I suppose. You two are a lot more alike that you realize." Esther said. "He's been asking questions again. About his father."

"Whatever you want to tell him, I'll stand by it."

"I don't want to lie to him, I just don't want him to have to know all of it. I don't know if I'm worried about him being ready to hear it, or me being ready for him to know."

Klaus nodded in understanding.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to Caroline and Henrik joke and laugh down in the darkroom.

"Why is she being so nice to him?" Esther asked.

"I think she's just nice."

"So she was like this with you? When you met her?"

"No." He smiled. "I'm pretty sure she hated me. She must reserve instant niceness for people like Henrik who deserve it."

"I see what she's doing." Ester said.

"And what's that?" He sighed.

"Don't confuse a girl who plays hard to get with one who's worth working hard for."

"Can you at least give her a chance?"

"I'm giving her a chance. She's in my house, eating my food, breaking my lamps. I'm just saying, don't forget where she comes from."

"Ah yes, about Mystic Falls and the Council..."

"Yes?"

"I've decided who I'll surprise. Who I'll take out when they don't expect me to be alive."

"Who?"

"Logan Fell. I'm going to Miami tomorrow, he'll be dead an hour after my plane lands. With any luck I'll get the brother too."

"Makes sense. He's mid level, heading up their work in that city, it would seriously weaken their Miami operation, they'd end up sending out people from Virginia to pick up the slack, in turn weakening their central hub. Smart."

"I learned from the best."

"Any other reason why you picked Fell?"

"It's just the most efficient and quick option."

"Your plans are never so quick and simple. You like stories, multiple steps. Whats the end game?"

"Who says I have an end game? Maybe this is all there is to it. Keep it might have noticed I have a lady friend I would like to return to a quickly as possible."

"Niklaus, I know you. Where is it leading?"

"Damon Salvatore."

Esther nodded her head in agreement. "I can certainly see why you'd want him gone, after the thing with your ribs, the other incident with Kol. But you know the effect taking him out will have on the Council."

"I know what I'm dealing with."

"They won't take this lying down. He's their great hope, the most promising member of the last few generations. It's been a long time since they've had a single leader instead of a group rule. They want someone like him. He's their chance to become a bigger player in this game."

"I'm aware of the backlash. I know they'll come after me."

"Then why? You don't get personal about it. If this was about the scraps with him, you would find another way to remind him you're stronger, but you wouldn't need to kill him. You're better at this than letting your pride rule you."

He just nodded.

"I think you'd be better off taking out Grayson and Miranda Gilbert. Simple, effective, not as much backlash. Make it look like an accident so we keep the son loyal."

"It has to be Damon Salvatore."

"Why not Giuseppe? Or the younger brother? Rebekah seems to think he would make a good poach, but I think we'd be better off just getting rid of that one. The last thing we need is another Damon, and there's only two more years before they tell him."

"No. Damon."

"Did she ask you to do this? That girl of yours? She must know him." Esther asked.

"No. She doesn't want me to. I don't know if she'll forgive me for this."

"But you're doing it for her." Esther said, studying his face.

He just looked away, not wanting to reveal too much.

"Why?"

"I'm not telling you why. I just wanted to let you know what the plan was. You don't have to watch her. I can have Rebekah stay with her at my flat, or maybe one of the others, I don't know who I trust less with her, Elijah or Kol."

"Did he do something to her? She isn't your problem, Niklaus. You really shouldn't let this girl get in the way of your good sense." Esther asked.

Klaus sighed and got up. "I'm going to go see how Alaric's doing with Henrik's lessons."

"I know she was in your room last night. Whatever she's trying to tempt you with to get you to do her bidding, you can find it somewhere else."

"She isn't like that."

"You know I always find out." Esther reminded him.

"And you know I'm not going to tell you." He said as he walked away.

* * *

He wasn't jealous of his fourteen year old brother. Not in the slightest. He was just annoyed, that was all. It had been hours of the three of them running around the property, Caroline all but ignoring him most of the time in favor of Henrik. Then the two of them were in the darkroom and he was relegated to sitting on the basement steps, listening to her laugh and joke like she never did with him.

His mother was gone by the time he got back to the steps and sat down again to listen. They were cleaning up, waiting on a few photos to dry.

Finally he heard her start to make her way up the stairs and he moved swiftly to make it look like he was just walking into the room.

She smiled when she saw him. That was something, right? She had been a little dodgy since last night, as if she felt awkward or embarrassed about what they did and almost did. Why? He didn't get it. He was just eager to get her alone and finish what they had started.

"Hey." He said, rushing over to approach her. "Now that you're done, do you want to go-"

"Nik, look!" Henrik shouted, bounding up the stairs with a stack of photos.

"I'm going to go upstairs and freshen up so you two can have some time together." she said.

He clenched his teeth. She probably thought she was being polite, giving him some time with his brother, but she was being infuriating. He didn't want to wait. The hunt and the chase were fun, but he was starting to lose his edge. Ever since last night it had been impossible not to have a running loop in his mind of what he imagined would have happened if Kol hadn't walked in and ruined the moment. She was drowning out all the other thoughts and he needed to focus. There were people to kill.

Henrik made him sit and look at all the pictures. There were stacks of things around the yard, the horses, close-ups of water drops on blades of grass and swarms of ants where someone had dropped a piece of food near the stables.

"Caroline took this one." Henrik said, handing Klaus a photo of his horse.

"But this one looks like you took it." klaus said, picking up the next one. It was a close up of Odin's teeth biting into an apple.

Henrik nodded.

They silently flipped though pictures for a few more minutes.

"Am I going to see her again, or is something going to happen to her?" Henrik asked.

Klaus hated that his teenage brother had to ask if the girl he brought home was going to be murdered, used or otherwise disposed of. He hated that his brother knew it was something he was capable of, and even more, he hated the way his brother knew to phrase it in the polite way their mother always did when she discussed the business. There was nothing he could do to stop his brother from being part of it. Nothing he could do to keep himself from becoming part of it.

He didn't hate everything about it. It was a good life. He had learned how to take power. He overthrew an empire when he killed Mikael. But there was a darkness that came with the life, and while it suited him, sometimes the crown was heavy, and the top was lonely. _Poor little rich boy just wants someone who understands_, he thought to himself. _What a walking cliche I turned out to be_.

"Nothing's going to happen to her." He assured Henrik.

"I'm not a baby. I can handle it."

"I know you're not. She's not going to get hurt. No one is ever going to hurt that girl. I won't let it happen."

"She likes you." Henrik said cautiously.

"What makes you say that?"

Henrik flipped through the stack of photos to find one of Klaus and Caroline together. It was a candid moment, neither one of them aware they were being photographed. They looked happy.

"You said you were changing the film in the camera." Klaus said. He remembered the moment, one of the few he had alone with Caroline while Henrik was otherwise occupied.

"And I stepped on a twig the moment I hit the button so you wouldn't hear me take it."

"Alaric's right. You are a natural hunter."

"It's the only one I made two copies of. She wanted to keep one. Just that one. She kept looking at it and smiling. You can have the other one."

"Thanks, Mate."

He watched Henrik shuffle off to his room and sat in the study for a minute longer, just looking down at the photo.

* * *

Caroline jumped up and hid the photo she was looking at behind her back. She thought it would be him bursting into her room without knocking, but apparently that was a family trait.

His sister barged into the room and threw four shopping bags on the bed.

"Here."

"What's all this?"

"Dolphins." Rebekah deadpanned. "They're clothes, dummy. Take them."

Caroline hesitantly picked up a shirt and her eyes almost fell out of her head when she caught sight of the price tag.

"Oh, no I can't. Besides, there's already clothes for me here."

"Yeah, hideous ones that the help picked out. If you're going to be staying in my house and hanging all over my brother, I'm not going to have you embarrassing me by dressing like a peasant."

Caroline smiled as she looked at the clothes. They were beautiful, and it was a really thoughtful way for the girl to give her some kind of peace offering.

"They're great. Thank you."

"I can't have you looking like a cheap prostitute if you're standing next to my brother, so you're welcome."

Caroline picked up a dress from one of the bags.

"You have good taste."

"So I've been told. Listen, I have somewhere to be tomorrow, so whenever Nik leaves-"

"Nik?"

"Oh, right." Rebekah said smugly. "You call him Klaus, don't you?"

"How many names does he have?"

"Niklaus is his name. All the people out there who aren't _us_ call him Klaus. Only the people he loves the most get to call him Nik."

"Oh." said Caroline, understanding the distinction.

Henrik and Rebekah called him Nik. The rest of the family called him Niklaus most of the time. She saw a distinct difference in the way he was around Henrik and Bekah compared to the others. He had told her to call him Klaus. What did that make her?

"Like I was saying" Rebekah continued, "I'm leaving tomorrow. My friend's having people over her parent's vacation home along the Spanish coast. So whenever Nik leaves to go kill people who think he's dead, you'll have to find someone else to babysit you."

Caroline nodded.

"You do know he kills people right? Tortures them, cuts them up? He does a lot of other things too, managing illegal betting pools, moving drug shipments, laundering money, roughing up people who don't pay up, all the usual stuff. I mean, I know you know about our family, but do you really understand? He kills people, probably people you know. Your little knight in shining armor."

"I'm... I don't like it, but I li- I uh, I'm trying to understand him."

"How noble of you." Rebekah sneered. "By all means, go ahead and learn to tolerate my brother."

"I didn't mean it like that, it's not just some little thing I can get over."

"If you're going to have a problem with what we do I suggest you leave."

"I can't leave. Klaus says I have to stay here until he gets back."

"Then just sit in here and leave him alone. Don't do whatever you're playing at with him if you don't mean it. Don't hang all over him and let him wait on you hand and foot if you're just going to go crying home because you can't handle who he is."

"Why are you telling me all this?"

"This is my family. I don't know why Nik thinks you're worth all the trouble you've caused him or why Henrik seems to think the sun shines out of your arse, but know this: If you hurt them, I will bring a world of pain down on you. So if you're too afraid or too pious to stomach what our family does, don't even think about spending another second with them, getting them to like you. I won't let you mess with my brothers."

"I'm not some girly little-"

"You're not like us. Don't try to prove you're tough. I know you're not."

"You don't know anything about me."

"And you don't know just how much you'll regret it if you cross me."

Rebekah stomped out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

* * *

She had changed into one of the dresses Rebekah had picked out and pulled her hair back, letting a few loose curls hang out. She was trying to decide between two pairs of shoes when the door opened again.

She spun around to see him.

He looked hesitantly around the room, then closed the door behind him, then locked it, making a bit of a show about it so she could see that their privacy was secured.

"Alone at last." He said.

"Does anyone in this family knock?"

"It's part of our charm. You look lovely."

"Your sister picked it out. She came in here to give me clothes and threaten to destroy me if I hurt you or Henrik."

"She did?" He said, grinning.

"You're amused by this?"

"It means she's felling a little threatened. Take it as a compliment."

"Well at least I won't be getting any more of her compliments for a few days at least. She said she was on her way to go stay with friends on the Spanish Coast."

"Bekah doesn't have friends." he scoffed.

"Sounds like you two have more than your penchant for not knocking in common."

He put his hand over his heart, pretending to be wounded by her remark while secretly reveling in her sass.

"I was just getting ready for another dinner with your family. Who do you think will get stabbed this time?" she said.

"I didn't stab Kol. I just gave him a friendly reminder that he should watch his mouth."

"What do your unfriendly reminders look like?"

"I believe you were on the plane."

She shook her head at him and walked over to the shopping bags, pulling out a sweater and shrugging it on over her dress.

"You know, if you're trying to get me to like you, you're really going about it the wrong way."

"You've not impressed by my rather large... body count?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, as a matter of fact, I think it's repulsive."

"You didn't seem to mind last night."

She felt her entire face burn bright red and she looked away from him, trying to will herself to blush less. She had spent all day trying not to think about last night. Things had gotten so heated, so fast. They were yelling at each other one minute and then they were kissing, and it was like everything made sense. It was him. It all clicked and she wasn't fighting it anymore. If Kol hadn't burst in and interrupted them, she wouldn't have stopped it. She didn't want to. That had scared her more than anything that had happened since the plane went down. She knew exactly who he was and she still wanted him. How could she let herself care about him? How could she let herself pick him?

He was watching her, studying all the flashes of emotions and worries that crossed her face. He had assumed she was in, she wanted it as much as he did. She certainly seemed enthusiastic about it last night. She started it, she kissed him first. Had he gone too far? He didn't want to push her, not after all she had been through.

"Caroline? You did... I mean, last night, I thought you wanted...are you-"

"I don't regret it. I just think... maybe it was good Kol came in and stopped it before things got too..."

"Too..." He smiled, playfully egging her one. He couldn't help it if flustered was one of her more adorable looks.

"You know what I mean."

"I think so, love."

"I told you not to call me that."

"As you wish, sweetheart."

"Klaus."

"Fine. Caroline. Old habits, you know. Now shall we? Dinner?"

"Are you going be nice to your siblings?"

"They're not invited. This dinner is just the two of us."

* * *

There was a lake about an acre or two away from the house, concealed enough by trees that she hadn't seen it from her window. There was a large weeping willow twisting its limbs over the lake and a knotted rope hung from one of the branches.

He set the bag of food down and spread out the blanket for them to sit on. She watched him and twirled the wine glasses and bottle he had given her to hold. She was glad he had already pulled the cork out, she was never very good at doing that. She always had to ask Bonnie to help out with it, or if Bonnie wasn't around she would just end up drinking the kind of wine that came in a box.

She looked around at the picturesque landscape, the cold blooded killer or mafia prince, or whatever he was, fussing with the food, arranging a plate for her.

"This is..." she started.

"Yeah, well, I can't exactly take you out anywhere, not until I take care of some business, and that house is full of my family, so.."

"I was going to say nice. This is really nice."

He looked relieved as she sat down next to him.

"Please sit. Eat."

She sat down next to him and picked up her plate. He pretended to be interested in his own food, but she caught him glancing over at her, watching her, making sure she was ok.

"We used to swing on that rope and jump into the lake." He said, motioning towards the willow. "Kol could do a backflip in the air before he hit the water, Elijah and I would always compete to see who could hold their breath the longest."

"Were you happy?" She asked.

He looked out at the lake. He had neglected to tell Caroline the rest of the story, of how when Mikael caught them playing he would hold them underwater until they choked, how he would force them to stand outside in their wet clothes all night to teach them discipline.

"Sometimes. There was always good and bad. It got better after Mikael was gone."

"Were you happy?" He asked. "I don't know anything about what your life was like growing up."

"I was. My parents did the best they could. My dad... He left when I was younger, he needed to figure things out on his own after he came out. I wasn't mad at him for it, I just wished he was around more. But I had a lot of friends, growing up was fun. Everything was, until..."

"Until Damon."

"I should never have told you about that." She said, studying his expression.

"I would have figured it out anyway."

"Please don't. Don't do this. You don't need to. I forgave him, he worked hard to change."

He shook his head. He would never agree to back down on this one. He knew she would be furious, she might never forgive it. But her safety was more important. Justice for her, in the way he knew how to give it, was more important.

"You don't need to go back to Mystic Falls."

"My mother is there. My friends. My whole life is there."

"I can give you a better life. We can go anywhere." He said.

"Klaus, I can't just-"

"Rome?"

"Walk away from my whole life and just run-"

"Paris?"

"Away with you and expect this to work when I just met you and-"

"Tokyo?"

"You're just going to get bored and I'll get hurt again, and you're acting like this isn't a risk at all."

"Take a chance, Caroline. I promise to make it worth the risk."

"You're asking me to risk everything, to trust you, to turn my back on everyone I know. What are you risking? Do you even know what you're asking of me?"

"I'm not asking you to give everything up. Just spend some time with me. Get to know me."

"And then I can go home, if I want to?"

"With a sizable security detail, yes. Although I would prefer you didn't stay there, I understand there are people you would wish to visit."

"I've lived there my whole life. It's safe. Nothing bad ever happens in Mystic Falls."

"Nothing that's seen by the public. And you will never be safe there again. Once people know we're both alive, they'll know you mean something to me."

"So?"

"The people in Mystic Falls, the Council, they're not exactly fond of me."

_They'll like me even less after I kill Damon Salvatore_.

"But they love me. They're my friends. They're not going to do anything to me."

"They might hate me more than they love you. If they had any idea how important you are to me..."

He reached out, picking up her hand. She looked up at him. He was worried. She didn't want to believe him, but she did. He said she was important to him. She couldn't figure out why.

"Why am I important to you?"

"You're.. not like us. Not like the people in my world. You have this light. I don't ever get to meet people like you. If I did, I wouldn't be able to be myself. If I met you some other way, and you found out who I was, you would have ran."

"I'm not running. I just... this isn't easy to get used to."

"I know. You're better than this, you're better than me. But I know you're trying. That's why you're important to me."

She couldn't think of anything to say in response. It was getting more and more difficult to shoot down the things he said. She was believing him more every time, even though the doubt still stuck to her brain.

They walked around the property, sharing more stories of growing up, of what each of their lives were like.

He told her a story about how he had convinced Bekah that there was a ghost in the backyard when they were younger, and how Elijah had dressed up in a sheet and chased her though the yard until she climbed up a tree. She actually laughed at that one, and he couldn't find words for what that felt like. The way she laughed, and knowing it was because of him, it was something new. It was something he wanted more of.

She told him all about her group of friends at home. He nodded along, picking up a few familiar names, Gilbert, Salvatore, and there were a few he had never heard of before. Not all of her friends were from council families. She told him about their parties out at the Falls, about the sleepovers she had with her two best friends, about high school and dances and football games. So Kol's Gilbert boy was the younger brother of one of her best friends. He felt a little better knowing htat was how she knew him, that he wasn't some ex. Not that he was jealous.

Her life was the kind of childhood he had only heard about in movies or books. It was so much different from private lessons and family first and the constant emphasis on survival he had been raised in. She had a light in her he didn't have. It was something that got quickly snuffed out of people when they entered a life like his. He wondered if he could keep it, if he could catch it without suffocating it. Could she bring light into his darkness, or would he swallow it up and ruin her? He kept promising her it would be ok, but he didn't entirely trust himself.

* * *

They fell asleep in his room that night. He didn't try anything. It was too soon, and he wasn't going to rush through this. He was used to rushing through, but this was different. Bekah was wrong. He couldn't imagine ever being bored of her.

One of the burner cells rattled his drawer. He carefully detangled himself from her, pulling away from the arm that she had thrown across him in her sleep.

The phone had a simple message.

**Plane's ready. **

He put it back, made sure everything was locked up, found a piece of paper to leave her a note. He left another one with tentative instructions for the family, to make sure they would take proper care of her.

He paused before he left the room, and carefully sat on the edge of the bed.

She looked so peaceful when she slept. It was so hard to leave, to be away from her for the first time since he set eyes on her. But this had to be done. Caring about her was difficult enough. It went against every ounce of self preservation and sense he had. He knew it could destroy him, but there was no way of avoiding it. He felt something for her. There was no way he could possibly continue living, feeling things for her, and at the same time know that people who had taken so much from her were out there, not paying for what they had done.

He traced a finger along her cheek.

"Love beyond family is the greatest weakness. We do not feel and we do not care." he whispered.

The family words. The code. The rules. He tried to remind himself of just how important they were. His mother had been right to warn him. What he was doing went against what was smart. He was letting feelings get the best of him, and he didn't like knowing just how irrational what he was going to do was.

"I don't know If I can love someone. If I ever do, it would probably be you. But I do know that I feel something. I care about you. I guess that makes you my weakness."

She shifted in her sleep, leaning closer to the faint whisper. He wandered if there was some subconscious part of her that could hear him.

"If I do end up over my head because of this, if this does me in, I hope you can be happy and safe. Whatever this costs me, you're worth it."

He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her forehead and then he was gone.

* * *

When the light from outside came in through the opening in the curtains, Caroline groaned and tried to go back to sleep. She curled to her side to block it out and breathed in deep, taking comfort in the familiar smell that clung to the sheets. It still caught her off guard to wake up somewhere that wasn't home, but she felt safe when he was there next to her, as irrational as it seemed. She reached an arm out to pull herself closer to him, but she only felt cold sheets. Hesitantly, she opened her eyes. He was gone. She slowly sat up and looked around the room. Maybe he was in the bathroom, or he went downstairs to get something to eat. A piece of paper on the nightstand caught her eye.

**I'll be back soon. Please forgive me.**

"No." She whispered, shaking her head as if that could stop it from being true.

She ran down the stairs.


	11. Chapter 11

Caroline ran down the stairs.

She tore through the living room, not caring that she was still wearing what she slept in, which had been a rather tiny set of shorts and a tank top.

She checked the kitchen. It was empty.

The house was deadly quiet.

The stairs creaked as someone walked down them and she felt a flutter of hope as she rushed back towards them.

Henrik was stumbling down each step with messy hair and sleepy eyes.

"Morning.' He grumbled.

"Did you see him?" she asked.

"I just woke up."

She ran back down, looking for any sign that he might still be on the property. She flung open the front door and ran through the driveway. A few guards slipped out of shadows to follow her from a distance. She caught sight of the front gate and a man stepped out in front of it. She wouldn't be able to get through.

Her feet took her to a building next to the main house, a garage. The bay door was open and she ran in, seeing a row of keys glinting in the sun as they dangled against the wall opposite her. She ran towards them, desperately trying to fix it, make it so he didn't leave.

She stopped in front of the row of keys, panting and catching her breath. Which one went to which car? She hesitantly picked up a set and tried to find a car with a symbol that matched.

"And where are you going?"

She jumped.

Elijah was leaning against one of the cars. He walked over to her and took the keys out of her hand.

"You thought you could just leave?"

"I have to stop him."

"Niklaus? He's been gone for hours. There's no stopping him."

"Please, you don't understand."

"_I _don't understand. Why don't you enlighten me?"

"He's going to do something terrible and it's all my fault. He thinks he needs to do it for me but I don't want him to. I told him I don't want him to.

Elijah rolled his eyes and put the keys back, He took Caroline's arm and led her back to the house with a firm grasp.

"I'm so glad I got stuck babysitting for Niklaus. It's not like I have a life to get back to or anything."

"You're what?"

"I have the dubious honor of watching over you. Bekah was his first choice, but she made plans and ran off, Kol was next but he had to get back to training the recruits, that just left me."

"I'm sorry?" She offered.

"Well, it won't be all bad, I suppose. Time with Henrik and Mother. But the second Niklaus is back, I'm off to tend to family business that requires me elsewhere. Just be good and follow the rules."

"There are rules?"

"My brother left me some basic ground rules." Elijah said. "You are to be kept safe and kept as comfortable as possible. You may not leave the property. You may not make any phone calls send any emails or otherwise try to contact him or anyone else. He will contact you when it's safe."

"Is that all?" she snapped at him.

"And I'm not allowed to flirt with you."

"Um." She tried to think of something to say, but it caught her off guard.

"Niklaus and I have a bit of a history with women. It's a sore subject with him, our mutual... affections. Anyway, he doesn't need to worry. I don't really pursue younger women."

"Good."

"Fine."

"I guess I'll just be going to the kitchen for some breakfast."

"Suit yourself." Elijah said. "And Caroline, the gates are electrified, and the phones and computers are all either under lock and key or under twenty four hour supervision, so don't try anything stupid."

* * *

The fire escape that snaked alone the side of the Miami high rise apartment building had been rusted and it squeaked under his weight at he made his way to the top floor. It was mostly wealthy retirees and socialites in places like this, close to the beach but full of people who would never walk the two blocks just to get all sandy.

Klaus peeked in and saw Mindy on the couch, looking bored. Her part of the job was done.

He tried the window and it opened. She knew he wouldn't risk walking though the lobby and had unlocked it while she waited for him to show up.

Klaus slipped in through the window, letting the humid heat of Miami in with him.

Mindy looked up from the tv and set the remote down.

"He's been out for a while, so you have about another half hour before he wakes up." she said.

"Perfect." Klaus said. "You're free to go. Take anything you want, I'm going to make it look like a robbery anyway."

He pulled a few plastic zip ties out of his pocket and started walking towards the bedroom.

"Oh, you're not going to need those." Mindy said.

He tilted his head and she pointed to the bedroom.

Logan Fell was handcuffed to the bedposts, still fast asleep. The handcuffs holding him in place were red and furry.

"Where did you get those?"

"His nightstand." she said. "Along with this." She held out a tiny bottle.

"Is that..."

"The very same thing I used on him. Slimeball."

"Well at least now you won't have to replenish your stock."

"I'm taking his Rolex." She sniffed.

"Take anything you want. He's council, so check the closets for false walls, that's where the good stuff will be. Just leave his phone. I'll be needing it."

Mindy snatched up a few items around the apartment and let herself out.

* * *

Logan Fell woke up handcuffed to his bed, feeling a bit groggy. the last thing he remembered was the cab ride back to his apartment with that impossibly sexy woman. Had they? No, he was pretty sure they hadn't done anything.

He looked up and saw a man sitting in the chair next to his bed, reading through his text messages.

"You." he stumbled. "You're supposed to be dead. What are you doing here?"

"Killing you." Klaus said, not bothering to look up from Logan's phone. "Your brother too. I just texted him from your phone, he's on his way over."

Logan tried to break free of his restraints, but he couldn't.

"You touch my brother and I'll-" He started.

"You'll what? You'll be dead by then." Klaus said calmly. He flipped though the phone some more.

Logan just glared at him.

"You sure do have a lot of messages from Damon Salvatore."

"He'll kill you when he finds out about this."

"I would really enjoy watching him try." Klaus replied.

"You can't get away with this."

"Can't I? What's this bar you and him keep chatting about, someplace just outside of Mystic Falls? Gloria's. You just texted him to say you need to meet there tomorrow night."

"He'll never buy it."

"And he's a response from him: 'see you tomorrow, buddy. I'll buy the first round.'" Klaus read, holding the message from Damon up for Logan to see. "Apparently he is buying it."

"You can't kill him in the middle of a public place."

"I don't intend to. I'm going to have a little fun with him first. You, on the other hand, are about to expire."

"You won't get away with this."

Klaus just nodded and smiled, setting the phone down.

He pulled a knife out of his pocket and flicked it open, twirling it between his fingers.

"Your friends have a name for me." He said.

Three long swipes of the knife, elegantly executed and quickly done left Logan bleeding out, blood pooling in the sheets around him. He looked down to see the undeniable mark of the wolf in the claw-like wound.

Logan screamed, but there was no one to save him.

"The'll know it was you. They'll know you're alive!" He shouted

"Good." Klaus replied calmly.

"You won't be able to catch us off guard like this again."

"Even better. I want Damon Salvatore to panic. I want him to fear me. I want him to wake up every night in a cold sweat wondering if today is the day I come to collect his head."

"He'll kill you." Logan sputtered out. "You're no match for him. You won't get away with this."

Klaus shrugged. He hadn't made the cuts deep enough to kill. Time to speed things up.

Logan never even saw the knife that slit his throat in one swipe. His eyes widened in shock as he choked on blood, spitting out mouthfuls. The last thing he saw before he died was Klaus Mikaelson's expressionless face as he wiped the blood from his knife on the sheets.

A minute later there was a knock on the door, then the key clicked as his brother let himself in.

"Logan? What's up?" he called out.

He never saw his assailant, only felt arms reach up from behind him, the hands on either side of his head. His neck snapped with a sickening crunch. He was dead before he hit the ground.

* * *

Katherine Gilbert walked into the Mystic Grill with a large duffel bag under one arm. She looked around at all the empty tables. It was a slow afternoon.

"He's not here." Matt called out from behind the bar.

"Oh." She looked down. "I guess I had to check. He does still work here, right?"

"When he's home. He's been gone for over a month this time, who knows."

"You'll call me? If Jere comes back? I just want to know he's ok."

"Of course."

"I'm heading back out." She said, motioning to the bag. "I've had my fill of Mystic Falls for a while."

"Where you going this time?"

"I don't know, actually."

Matt laughed. "Sometimes I think you just spin a globe and go wherever your finger lands."

Katherine glanced over to the tattered world map on one of the walls. Ok, so it was the 'world of alcohol' and it was basically a map of different types of booze for each country, but it would work

"Spin me." She said, standing near the map and closing her eyes.

Matt rolled his eyes, but obliged, spinning her around five times. He pointed her towards the map, and she stuck out a finger, opening her eyes once it hit the map.

"You've never been there before."

"I guess there's a first time for everything."

* * *

Rebekah had two reasons for slipping into Mystic Falls. One was that she knew her brother was on his way there, and she was wary about his reasons for going. Kol had whispered something to her about Damon Salvatore and she was worried. Nik thought he was invincible, but he was in over his head if he was planning on squaring off with Salvatore again. She knew he couldn't take him out on Salvatore's home turf, at least not alone. Her other reason for dropping into Mystic Falls was that she wanted to prove that she could get a council poach just like Kol and Nik. She could lure one of them away and make them loyal. She hated that mother decided that the boys they picked would be best to try first, and that the one she wanted would be a bad idea. They were always treating her like a little girl.

She had said she was going to visit a friend in Spain, so she couldn't babysit Nik's plaything like he asked. He would have to find someone else to watch over that silly little girl. She found a delightful irony in the fact that she could just slip out and go to the town that girl wanted to go home to.

No one here knew who she was. It wasn't that she hadn't gotten her hands bloody, but she hadn't gotten in any face to face scuffles with the council members who resided here. She could walk through Mystic Falls without being suspected.

She saw him walk into the bookstore on Main street and followed him in.

It would be easy. She had done her research. He was involved with a girl somehow, but his brother was tied to her as well. He behaved as if he was single and was probably tired of being tugged around by someone who couldn't make up her mind. He would fall right into someone new lavishing attention on him and only him.

His back was to her as she walked in. She smiled at the way he tilted his head as he looked over the shelves of books. His funny hair was so adorable. She would enjoy this job.

She walked quietly over to the history section, stacking a bunch of books about the Civil War in her arms. She knew that it was one of his interests. She found a book on Italian cooking to stack on top of those, it was his favorite type of food. She moved over to fiction and grabbed a copy of Mario Puzo's The Godfather. The movie based on that book was his favorite. It really wasn't fair, just how easy this would be. She felt herself smile as she walked over to him.

Rebekah pushed herself forward, as if she had tripped on something. She grabbed his arm to keep from falling and dropped her books at his feet.

"Whoa." Stefan said, holding his arms out to catch her. "Are you ok?"

She smiled sheepishly, letting her hand slide down his arm as she pulled herself back to her feet.

"I'm fine. Just embarrassed. I can be so clumsy."

He bent down to help her pick up her books, and she caught him look over at the pile of books in front of him and back at her.

"Are all of these yours?" he asked.

"Yeah. As if tripping and almost knocking you over isn't embarrassing enough, now you know all my dorky interests."

'Well I guess I'm a dork too, than. I love the Godfather."

"It's my favorite movie. I wore my copy of the book out from reading it too many times, that's why I'm getting a new one."

"No way! It's my favorite movie too." He said.

She gave her oscar winning look of surprise.

He held up the cook book "You cook?"

"Not to brag, but I'm a really good cook. Italian is my favorite."

"Me too." He smiled.

"Hey, maybe I can cook you something. Make up for landing on you and dropping my books on your feet."

"Like a date?" He asked, smiling at her.

"Only if you want it to be a date." She responded, doing her best impression of a bashful girl with a crush.

He smiled at her, nodding that he would like that very much.

She felt triumphant, giddy. He was taking the bait.

"Are you going to poison me?" He joked, still smiling.

She laughed. "No, my cooking isn't that bad"

His smiled faded away. "Are you sure? I heard that was your preferred form of murder. Isn't it, Rebekah?"

Her stomach lurched.

"What did you say?"

"I'm sorry, did you need me to repeat myself?"

"How did you know my name?"

"It was a good plan. I bet this one has worked for you before. Finding out my interests, the books, pretending to trip. But I know all about you. I know about all of you Mikaelsons."

"I... I don't understand."

"Don't play dumb. It's not a good look for you."

"You're 23. You're not supposed to know."

"Yeah, about that. My brother isn't exactly good with following rules."

"Damon told you?"

"Speaking of brothers, how's yours?" He smirked. "Do wolves swim?"

"Go to hell." she growled, glaring at him with all her fury. She was relieved that there was one thing Stefan didn't know. He thought Nik was dead. But she was still furious her plan was ruined.

"Get out of my town." he said.

"Gladly." she replied, stomping out of the bookstore.

* * *

Bekah stomped through the streets of Mystic Falls. She was furious. Her plan should have worked. If they only let her go to him earlier, maybe she would have gotten to him before he knew the truth.

She wanted to wipe the smug smile off his face when he knew he had surprised her. It never worked out the way she wanted it to. Sure, her head had been filled with pretty little thought of the two of them, going out on missions together, getting closer, running fingers through his funny hair. Then he would see her in a different way. He would kiss her. He would love her.

Why did Nik always have to be right? She couldn't bear the thought of him finding out about this. He would laugh when he heard about another one of her pathetic attempts to get a boy to love her backfiring. And he would go on and on about how he and Mother were right all along, the boy was a terrible pick for a council poach.

How had he known her face? Nik and Elijah couldn't step foot in Mystic Falls without being spotted by Council people, but she and Kol were supposed to be safe, less recognizable. Kol had spent two weeks in town getting to know the Gilbert boy, and no one knew his identity. How had hers gotten out?

She needed a wig, some contacts, a new plan if she was going to stay in town long enough to wait for Nik to arrive. But first, she needed to get absolutely black out drunk.

There wasn't a single decent bar in this town and she wasn't about to drive to whatever neighboring town might have one. A weathered looking building had a sign 'Mystic Grill' out front. It looked like some tacky little hangout, but at least there was a bar in it.

She stomped through the front door and planted herself at a bar stool. She pulled out a wad of cash and tapped her hand against the bar to get the very busy looking bartender's attention.

"Double vodka and coke." She snapped at him.

"You don't look old enough to drink." He smiled.

He was cute. Really cute, actually. His blonde hair looked like he let someone cut it with safety scissors over the bathroom sink and his clothes were threadbare, but his lopsided smile and gorgeous blue eyes made up for all that. Bekah cursed herself for jumping right to admiring the cute guy. She'd had enough of cute guys for one day. She needed to block him and everything else out.

"Well I am." She snapped. "I happen to be much older than I look."

She glared at him and waited for him to just pour the stupid drink. _Just be a bitch to him and he'll leave you alone. Don't make this day any worse by flirting with another guy who isn't going to want you or is just going to want you for the wrong reasons. No boys tonight, just drinks. Lots of drinks. _

"I.D.?" he asked.

She flung a card at him.

He looked at it and laughed.

"This isn't your real I.D."

"Says who?"

"Says me, Batgirl."

She shook her head. On an impulse, she put the name Barbara Gordon on her fake ID. No one had caught it yet.

"The name is just a coincidence." She insisted.

"Sure it is. But I'm sure you had a hard day fighting crime, so I'll get you that drink anyway. Just don't tell anyone I served you. I kinda need this job."

He poured her the vodka and coke, and she rolled her eyes at how light he was on the vodka. There was a crash on the other side of the restaurant as a waitress dropped a tray of food. He sighed and mumbled something under his breath as he walked over to help her out, leaving the bottle sitting on the counter.

Rebekah quickly downed two thirds of her drink, snatched up the bottle, and filled her glass to the brim.

* * *

It had been days. She was pacing around the house with Elijah watching her every move. They didn't exactly become fast friends, but he was cordial enough. A few comments or looks he gave her made it clear he thought she was low class, but he was too well mannered to be outright rude. They had some pleasant afternoons spending time with Henrik after his lessons with Alaric and the other tutors were over. She enjoyed Henrik's company more than anyone else in the family, and gravitated towards him whenever possible. His main tutor Alaric became a familiar face that drifted in and out of the property.

She watched the two of them walk off to the makeshift shooting range at the back of the property. Alone again with Elijah.

They sat in silence, looking down at empty cups of tea.

"I'd love to hear more about how you ended up here." He offered.

"No." She said. She didn't know what Klaus told him and she was afraid to give up too much information. It was the only shred of power she held.

"You must have made quite an impression for him to risk bringing you here, especially after he found out you were from Mystic Falls." Elijah said.

"I guess so." she snipped.

"And you've grown fond of him as well?"

"I really don't want to talk about it."

"Ah, you're mad. About whatever neither of you want to share the details about."

"Nope."

"So you're not going to tell me who you know in Miami?"

She tried to hide her shock. She had assumed Klaus was going to Mystic Falls. What was in Miami? When she was dating Damon, he had a friend who lived there and he had gone to visit him a few times. Was Damon in Miami?

Esther walked into the room and set her laptop on the table in front of Elijah. She barely afforded Caroline a glance before turning her back to her.

"I need you to look over the files I left open. Let me know when you're done reading them so we can discuss our options."

Elijah's eyes flicked over to Caroline.

"I'll entertain our guest while you do that. I have a... surprise for her."

He nodded.

"Follow me." Esther said to Caroline.

Caroline followed her to Esther's personal office. That room had always been locked and she had never gotten a glimpse inside. It looked neat and orderly, although impersonal. There was one photo of all her children on the desk, they were smiling and sitting on the grass in the backyard. Her eyes went to Klaus, who was probably in his late teens, holding a much younger looking Henrik on his shoulders. There was one face she didn't recognize, an older brother. He must be the one Klaus had said had been away for a long time. He never elaborated on where he went.

Ester tapped on the phone on the desk, the hold button was blinking.

"Pick it up."

Caroline hesitantly picked up the phone, expecting to hear Bonnie or her mother on the other side, begging for their life.

"Caroline?"

It was him.

She felt anger, relief and fear all at once.

Esther was standing there, watching her, catching every flicker of emotion that crossed her face.

"Klaus?" Caroline gasped.

She couldn't believe it. It was so strange hearing his voice on the phone. He was so far away.

"Caroline, I don't have much time to talk-" He started.

"How could you? You just left!" She screamed.

"I knew you would make a scene if I told you I was leaving." He replied calmly.

"Make a scene? I'll show you a scene! Why would I make a scene? Just because you're running off to kill people I begged you not to hurt?"

"Don't be angry, love."

"Don't tell me what to feel! I'm angry! I'm angry at you! How could you do this?"

"This is for your own good. This is for your safety."

"Do not make this about me! This your own selfish little quest for control. You're not doing this for me."

Esther tucked her lips in to keep from smiling.

"Sweetheart, stop yelling. I don't have much time and I know my mother is listening in on you."

"So? I don't care if she hears. How can you do this and expect me to be ok with it? How can you respect me so little?"

"How can _I_ respect you so little? Might I remind you what he's done to deserve this?"

"You can't just go around killing people who-"

"Who what? Almost killed you?"

"I said I was over it!"

"I don't think you should be."

"That's not your call to make."

"Caroline, sweetheart, I have to go. I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"No! Do not hang up on me! I'm not finished yelling at you!"

"I'll be back soon." He said.

"No!" she protested.

"I miss you." He said quietly.

"I'm not saying it back."

"Because you don't? Or because you're angry?"

"I'm not answering that."

"Aren't you the lest bit worried about me? Not even going to ask if I'm ok?" He teased.

"No. You're, like, indestructible. Nothing can hurt you."

"I'm flattered you think so, although I was hoping for a bit more concern."

"And I was hoping you wouldn't sneak out in the middle of the night to kill my ex boyfriend."

"Not sure if that's the title that best suits him. I really have to go, sweetheart. I'll be back soon."

"Oh, take your time." she spat.

The line went dead.

Caroline slammed the phone down and glared at it. She was fuming. She wanted to hit him. How dare he? He had no right. And she hated how calm and sweet he sounded on the phone, as if he had run out to get groceries or something. Just called to check in on her. As if she wouldn't want to rip into him for doing this. As if he was just going about his business.

Esther was still watching her, a calm wistful expression on her face.

"You know, my son has killed people for less than talking to him like you just did."

"I'm not afraid of him." Caroline snipped.

"Yes you are." Esther replied. "At least a little, you're too smart to be completely fearless of someone like him. But that's not all, is it?"

"I'm also really pissed off at him right now."

"But you don't hate him. In fact, you really do care about him, don't you?"

Caroline bit her lip, afraid of revealing too much.

Esther circled around her, observing.

"You know, I have been trying to figure out your angle, how you managed to manipulate this situation. But you don't have one. This is real for you."

Caroline was waiting for a trap door to open up under her, for someone to spring out and attack. Esther was looking at her like she just unlocked a mystery.

Esther rummaged through one of the drawers in her desk and pulled out a handgun.

Caroline jumped back, fully aware that there was nothing she could do to shield herself, but still trying to hold on to her life.

"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you." Esther said. She turned the gun over in her hands. "Your mother has a model similar to this one, same maker. She carries a Glock 17C, while mine is a third generation 19."

"How do you know what kind of gun my mother carries?"

"I'm good at my job. Did she ever teach you to use it?"

"No." Caroline shook her head. Again, she felt embarrassed to be surrounded by strong women, always the weak one. Her mother had never felt the need to show her how to operate a firearm. No one saw Caroline as the type of girl who could handle one.

"Follow me." Esther said, walking out of the room without looking back to see if Caroline was keeping up.

* * *

An hour later, Caroline and Esther were sitting at the table next to the shooting range in the back yard. A disassembled subcompact Glock 30 sat on the table between them, all the parts lined up neatly.

"Again." Esther commanded.

Caroline clicked and slipped the pieces together quickly, finishing by snapping in the cartridge.

"47 seconds." Esther said. "Get it down to thirty."

"That's impossible" Caroline protested as she pulled the pieces apart again.

"Just do it."

After three more tires Caroline was able to reassemble the gun in under thirty seconds.

Esther walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a different cartridge.

"That one has bullets in it." Caroline said.

"I think you're ready."

Esther went over the safety procedures and showed Caroline how to stand properly.

"It's going to kick back." she reminded her, clapping the noise canceling earmuffs over Caroline's ears. "It's not like in the movies where you can shoot one handed and stand in place."

"I got it." Caroline said, focusing on the target in front of her. It was the outline of a body, roughly life size. Just the general shape of a man. She wasn't picturing Damon or Tyler when she looked at it. Not at all. It was just a target.

"Now pull the trigger."

Caroline pulled it, and the gun kicked back, hitting her in the boob.

"Oww." she mumbled, holding the spot where the butt of the gun smacked her. Her ears were ringing from the noise, even with the headphones.

"You didn't even hit the target." Esther muttered, ignoring Caroline's complaints. "Do it again. Focus this time. And tense your arms a bit so they don't go flying back again."

She fired again and hit the target in the hip.

Caroline looked out at the mark it had made. She smiled with pride, looking at what she had done. It felt good. It felt powerful.

"Not bad." Esther said, "Now aim for the heart."

Caroline went through four more clips, and by the end of their session, she had managed to get a few shots in the stomach and shoulder, although nothing close to the heart. Her arms burned from keeping her muscles tense to hold the gun steady when it kicked back.

"That's enough for today." Esther said. "You did well."

"Why are you teaching me this?" Caroline asked.

Esther paused, a sad memory flashing through her mind.

"There was once a time where I was not able to defend myself. I don't understand why you're important to my son but I know he wants to keep you safe. He's not always going to be around to protect you, as much as he thinks he can be."

Esther picked up the gun and pulled the cartridge out before storing it one one of the cabinets and locking it.

"Do you know what I like about guns?" Esther asked her.

Caroline shook her head.

"My late husband was six inches taller than me and outweighed me by a hundred pounds. He could lift things I could not lift. He could run faster. He could punch with a force I would never be able to match, not even if I spent my entire life in the gym. But that gun shoots with the same force and power no matter who's holding it. It's the same in his hands or mine or yours, all that matters is you know how to use it. When you pull that trigger, you're as strong as any man."

Caroline thought of that moment, Damon's boot on her neck. She thought of how powerless she felt, of all the times she felt that she'd never be strong enough.

"Thank you." She said.

Esther pointed at the cabinet.

"When you leave here, that Glock 30 is going with you. I expect you to be able to care for it and use it properly by then."

"You're trusting me with that thing? To keep it?"

"Apparently I'm expected to trust you with my son. This doesn't seem nearly as dangerous."

Caroline nodded.

Esther was looking her over again, judging, searching for something.

Caroline hesitated, recognizing the look from one her own mother gave to all the boys that showed up at the doorstep over the years.

"You want me to tell you I won't hurt him." Caroline said.

It was a strange feeling, seeing Esther as a mother who worried about her babies getting their hearts broken. Caroline had never thought of it from her angle. Klaus was too brutal to be hurt by her. Or at least she had thought so.

Esther was waiting for her to continue.

"I can't say... I can just tell you that I'm honest with him. And I'm mad at him. Furious. But I won't.. I'm not trying to manipulate anything. I'm just trying to stay alive and I'm really confused. I've been worried about myself staying safe, but I don't want him to get hurt either."

Esther sighed. "Well, I suppose that's good enough for now. Why don't you go wash up for dinner?"

Caroline gave her a hesitant smile and started to step out of the room.

"Oh, and Caroline." Esther added. "If you use that gun on any of my children, I'll make sure you die in a much slower and more painful manner than bleeding out from a bullet wound."

* * *

Matt had to fill in for the busboy and work the bar at the same time. He also had to wait a few of the tables because one of the waitresses had to rush home to a sick kid. It had been a hectic night, but the tips were decent.

The pretty blonde girl at the bar had been fairly quiet, still nursing the first drink he made her. He probably shouldn't have let her have it, her ID was obviously fake, but she looked so sad he figured it couldn't hurt to let her have just one.

He glanced over at her, she was drinking what looked like water, but he didn't remember giving it to her. Maybe the waitress got it for her when he was in the back.

The phone rang. He picked up and rolled his eyes at the voice on the other side. Of course the boss wasn't coming back in tonight. He never bothered to come in. He just told Matt to tell the kitchen staff to go home as soon as the place cleared out for the night.

He looked around. There was only one table left, and they were almost done, that just left the girl at the bar.

She was looking down at her drink when he walked over.

"Hey, did you want any food before the kitchen closes?" He asked.

She looked up at him with a dazed expression.

"I- hic- want another drinky - hic- please"

He picked up the glass of clear liquid in front of her and smelled it. It was straight vodka. She must have swiped it from the bottle behind the bar when he wasn't looking.

"I'll get you something to soak that up." He sighed

Matt felt a knot form in his stomach. This was bad. He shouldn't have gotten suckered in by those doe eyes. He should have just sent her on her way. If anyone saw the clearly drunk and probably underage girl he had served, not only would he lose his job, but he wouldn't be able to find another one. There weren't many other options for him other than waiting tables. A shoulder injury in a car crash senior year lost him his football scholarship, and there was no other way he could go to college. He was just stuck wiping up messes at the Grill while all his friends got to leave town and move on with their lives. Now he was 23 and still working the after school job he had as a teenager.

The table had left, and the waitress waved to him to signal she was leaving for the night.

He poked his head in the kitchen to tell the cooks they could leave.

"Guys, boss says you can leave, hey can I have what's left of those fries?" He motioned to the basket still in the frier.

The head cook gave Matt a knowing look. It wasn't uncommon for Matt to swipe leftovers and orders that got sent back. It was no secret that he had trouble making ends meet, and sometimes skipping meals at home was what it took to pay the bills.

As he walked back into the front of the grill, Rebekah had her head propped on her hands, elbows on the bar. She hiccuped again and her head slipped off her hand and smacked into the bar.

"Oww." She muttered, rubbing her forehead.

"Easy there." he said gently.

Matt held her head between his hands and looked at the red lump forming on her forehead.

"I'll get you some ice for that. Just eat those fries, ok?"

"Those aren't -hic- fries, they're -hic- chips."

"What? No, chips aren't... oh, is that a British thing or something?"

She giggled and popped a fry in her mouth.

"Chips." She said pointing at the plate.

Matt walked around the bar and brought her a napkin full of ice. She tried to grab it but her coordination was so off that she ended up pawing at the air half a foot away from it. He gently put the ice against her face and she shivered, and snuggled up against him, leaning onto him in a way that would make her fall off her bar stool if he moved away.

"Keep eating." He reminded her. "You need some grease to soak up all that vodka you stole."

"I didn't steal it, I just had some that was in my -hic- it was right -hic- oh, I stole it."

"Can I call someone to pick you up?" He offered.

"No, I'm all -hic- alone. Lonesome, lonely me. No one here."

"Ok. A cab? Where should I tell them to drop you off?"

"I forget the name of the hotel."

"Well there aren't any in Mystic Falls, which town is the hotel in?"

"I forget." She grumbled, her eyes starting to flutter closed.

"There's probably a key card or something." he mused, reaching for her purse.

She swatted away his hand.

"No touchy."

"Well, how else am I supposed to figure out where to send you?"

"I'll just sleep here." She murmured, leaning on the bar.

"Right, like I wouldn't be fired on the spot."

She laughed and messed up his hair.

"You should -hic- get that fixed" she said, playing with the uneven chunks of hair that stuck out from between her finger.

He looked around, hoping for someone to show up and collect her, but the Grill had been closed for a half hour and it didn't look like anyone was coming to pick her up.

"Alright, I guess you can crash at my place. You're not some crazy serial killer or something, are you?" He asked.

She just giggled.

He shook his head. "What am I saying? You couldn't hurt a fly."

"I can too." She protested.

"Oh really? Ever killed a man with your bare hands?" He joked.

"Plenty." She insisted.

He laughed and offered her a hand so she could stand up.

She stumbled off the bar stool and failed miserably at walking, so he looped one of her arms around his shoulders and guided her to the car.

* * *

Damon arrived at Gloria's pub a few minutes after nine. It wasn't a far drive from Mystic Falls. The place was a popular hangout for people in business like theirs, and they blended in just fine. Logan was usually the early one, but he hadn't arrived yet. He didn't go into further details about what they were meeting to discuss when he had texted. Whatever he needed to say in person was serious.

He waved over the bartender, ordering two glasses of bourbon, neat. He sipped from one and placed the other in front of the seat next to him.

He turned to see someone sliding onto the stool next to him. He only saw the man's back, but it wasn't Logan.

"Hey, man. That seat's taken."

"Well it certainly is now." Klaus smirked, turning around.

"You." Damon growled. "You're supposed to be dead. What are you doing here?"

"Having a drink with you." Klaus replied, picking up Logan's drink and downing it.

"How did you find out we were meeting here?" Damon asked.

"You and Logan Fell?" Klaus asked. "Oh, he won't be able to make it today."

He put Logan's phone down on the bar in front of Damon.

The color drained from Damon's face. He knew exactly what it meant.

"You killed him."

"And his brother."

"Why?"

"To get your attention. Do I have it?"

"You could have just dedicated a song to me."

"Ah, the Salvatore wit and snark. How I've missed these talks."

"You can't kill me here. You wouldn't make it out of the building."

"I wasn't planning on killing you tonight."

"Then why are you here?" Damon demanded. "Ladies night isn't until Thursday."

Klaus chuckled. "I just want you to know that I will kill you. Maybe later tonight, maybe in a week, a year even. You are going to spend the rest of your short little life looking over your shoulder."

"Oh, I'm shaking in my boots." Damon mocked. He started to get up, but Klaus pushed him back down into his seat.

"I won't be quick about it either. You are going to feel a considerable amount of pain. You don't deserve the mercy of a quick death."

"Really?" Damon scoffed. "And just how long is this death going to last? Days? Months?" He said, smirking a bit as he raised his glass.

"That depends. How long did you torture Caroline Forbes? Days? Months?"

Damon's glass slipped out of his hand and crashed against the bar.

"I don't know what you think you know about that-"

"I know enough."

"Well I'm not one to speak ill of the dead, But Caroline Forbes was a bitchy, neurotic little twit. She talked too much when she should have kept her mouth shut."

"I'm really going to enjoy tearing out all your vital organs." Klaus smiled.

"Why are you so interested in what happened between her and I? She's dead. And she was one of us, not one of you."

"She was never part of the Council."

"No, she wasn't old enough. And even if she had lived long enough, we wouldn't have trusted her with more than picking out the stationary we use. Even her mother knew she wasn't Council material. She was a useless airhead." Damon scoffed.

"You should really stop talking." Klaus warned.

"What's the big deal about her anyway? How do you even know who she is? She never met you until she died on that plane. Which, now that you're here, I can only assume was your doing."

Klaus nodded to the bartender for another drink.

"Waaaait a minute." Damon smirked. "She's still alive."

Klaus rolled his eyes at Damon's triumph over his own mediocre detective work.

"She's still alive and you've got her. Don't tell me you have a thing for her or something."

Klaus just glared at him.

"You do. Her? Really? That Petrova bitch you used to run around with was a lot better looking. Although I heard she preferred your brother, didn't she? I can't imagine how embarrassing that must have been. All set up for a nice little arraigned marriage between two disgusting mob families, and it turns out the bride to be has been fucking the best man the whole time."

"Charming, the way you tell it." Klaus said through clenched teeth.

"I wonder if Sage has ever indulged in a little Elijah time." Damon smirked. "After all, her doting husband has been locked up for... seven years is it now? Eight?"

"When Finn gets out, I'll make a point to tell him to piss on your grave."

"Feisty, I like it. You know who else was feisty? Caroline. Does it bother you, knowing I got there first? Well not first, she's been around a bit, but before you."

"By all means, keep talking, you're only making it worse for yourself in the end."

"You're still going with the 'I'm going to kill you for her' bit? What, she told you about me and you're here to settle the score for her?" Damon asked.

"Something like that."

"Caroline and I already worked that out. She's moved past it."

"I'm sure that had nothing to do with pressure from your brother and the Gilbert girl to move past it."

"What can I say, I have a fan club."

"Right, about your fan club." Klaus said, digging though his pockets. He produced three photos and set them on the bar. There was one of Elena, one of Stefan, and one of Giuseppe. Each had a red target over their face. "I'm going to kill you no matter what, but they don't need to be harmed. However, if you come after me, or if anything happens to any of my family members, or to Caroline, all of them die."

"You picked the wrong guy to mess with, Mikaelson."

"You picked the wrong girl to hurt, Salvatore."

Klaus waved the bartender over and ordered another drink, motioning that it was for Damon. He threw a few bills on the bar and stood up.

"Enjoy that drink, Salvatore. It could be your last."

"You sure know how to treat a lady." Damon smirked, raising his glass. "What makes you so sure you can get me? We both know you've wanted to before."

"I've never had a reason this good before. Consider me very motivated."

The smirk slipped from Damon's face and fixed into a glare.

"Playing hero for one of my leftovers doesn't make you the good guy. We both know I'm going to win."

"I know that you're going to go home tonight and you're going to hear a noise." Klaus replied. "And it probably won't be me, but you'll react, just in case. And then there'll be another noise, a draft, anything really. You won't sleep. It'll seep into your brain. Eventually you'll start hearing noises that aren't there, seeing me in crowds I'm not in. Just know, that I will be watching. And when you least expect it, I'm going to be there, and it won't just be in your mind. And that's where the real fun begins."

Klaus gave Damon a quick nod and walked out of the bar.


	12. Chapter 12

Liz Forbes woke up to a knock on the door. She glanced at the alarm clock. It was the middle of the night. She groaned and tried to go back to sleep, letting herself believe she had only heard the noise in a dream.

The knock came again.

She reached into the nightstand and took her gun out, sliding the safety off. She carefully walked down the stairs and approached the front door with the trained caution she used when she swept a crime scene. She looked through the peek-hole and saw Damon standing on her porch.

"Damon? Honey what is it?" She said.

"Liz. We need to talk. Now."

She motioned for him to come in. She had always liked Caroline's ex. Sure, he was a bit old for her, but Caroline being with a high ranking council member meant that she would be well protected. Besides, she had her own friendship with Damon though all the missions they went on together, and she thought he was a good guy. One of the few left out there.

Damon walked into the living room.

"Do you want to sit?" she asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost. What happened?"

"Seen a ghost." he mumbled. It seemed to amuse him.

"Damon? Are you sick? What's wrong, honey? You look awful."

"You're the one who should sit." he said.

"Just tell me."

He glanced at the gun she was still holding.

"Could you maybe put that down?"

"Oh, right."

She slid the safety back on and set it on a table, barrel facing away. Liz looked over Damon's spooked countenance and sat down on the couch, waiting for whatever he had to say that couldn't wait until morning.

"I don't know where to start." Damon muttered.

"Is it the Council?"

"It's... shit, Liz, this is really hard to say."

"It's three seventeen in the morning and you just about knocked down my door. Whatever it is, just say it."

Damon nodded.

"Liz, I did some things... bad things."

"I'm on the Council too, Damon. We all did things."

"Ok, so Caroline and I agreed not to tell you, but when we were together... I wasn't myself. I wasn't... good to her. I did a lot of things I'm not proud of. She never wanted you to know, but you need to, to understand what's going on."

Her eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean you weren't good to her? Why are you telling me this now?"

Liz didn't understand why Damon would come to her in the middle of the night to talk about that. Sure, she was aware that he and Caroline had their ups and downs, but her daughter always was like that with boys. Caroline had a hot temper and little patience for imperfection, so usually the boys that came and went didn't last long. Damon stuck around for a while, though. He was a good match, older, calmer. Liz had noticed Caroline was more subdued when she was with Damon, and it seemed like a good thing. Caroline was home less often, but she didn't pick fights with Liz anymore and she wasn't sneaking out with random boys or our partying like she was most nights before Damon. Liz even let her spend most nights at the Salvatore house, a decision that had caused a few raised eyebrows from other parents. Why not? She knew her daughter was no angel, and it was better that she was there than anywhere else she would be slipping off too. Liz was sorry to hear it when that relationship ended.

"You don't have to feel guilty because she's gone. I know Caroline wasn't perfect." She said, trying to calm him down. He looked jittery and spooked.

"I saw Niklaus Mikealson today." He said.

"They found his body?"

"No. I saw him. He's alive."

Liz's eyes widened in horror. It was impossible. There was no way anyone could have survived the crash.

"He's here?" She asked. "Is he in Mystic Falls?"

"No." Damon shook his head. "I don't think he would step foot in town, too many of us for him to take on alone. But he approached me at Gloria's. I thought I was meeting Logan. He killed both of the Fell brothers."

Liz shook her head. Hadn't that man done enough? Why could't he just stay dead? He took her baby. It was his fault Caroline was dead.

"He made it very clear that he wants me dead."

"He's always wanted you dead, you've wanted him dead. This isn't new."

"Not like this." Damon shook his head. "This is different, more personal. It's about revenge. And it's about Caroline."

Liz shook her head. "No, he never met her. She never knew anything about the Mikaelsons."

"I think she's alive." Damon said.

"No. My daughter's gone. Don't say it if it's not true."

"We were wrong. He knows things about her. He knows about things... me and her."

"It's impossible. My baby died. I know she did." Liz said.

"They never found a body."

"They said there were sharks in the water, there were strong currents..."

"Liz, listen to me. She's alive. And they have her."

* * *

Rebekah's head was pounding. She covered her eyes to block out the light that shone thought the ratty curtains. Where was she?

She remembered flirting with Stefan in the book store. Did something happen between them? She tried to piece together what had happened after the bookstore.

No, that wasn't right. There was no after the bookstore with Stefan.

She groaned as she remembered him one upping her, how he saw right through her plan. She had stomped to the closest bar and gotten black out drunk.

She cringed, wondering if she had slept with a stranger. It wouldn't be the first time she had done something she wasn't proud of while drinking, but she was horrified she didn't even remember it.

The room was a disaster. The sheets were worn and the only furniture other than the bed were shelves made out of milk crates. Piles of dirty clothes were flung around the floor and the entire place smelled like day old fast food.

Her clothes from last night were still on. Once she noticed everything was still in place she breathed a little easier. Nothing had happened. The only thing missing were her shoes and purse. After a quick search she managed to find them at the foot of the bed.

Rebekah tiptoed out of the bedroom and into the common space of the apartment. There was a man sleeping on the couch, one arm hanging down onto the floor.

It all came back. She remembered him, he was the cute bartender with the awful haircut. She remembered stumbling off the bar stool, the bartender helping her into his car... no it was a truck. Then they had shuffled up to his apartment, him supporting her weight as she could hardly walk. As soon as the door clicked shut she had thrown herself at him, knocking him against a wall. She kissed him and he flinched back, but she took his jolt of surprise for enthusiasm and kissed him again. It was sloppy drunken kissing, not her finest work. She didn't really get a chance to do much of anything, his hands quickly moved to her shoulders, gently pushing her away.

She had pouted.

"Hey, don't give me that look, you're drunk." he said, as if he was speaking to a child.

"I'm not -hic- drunk." she replied.

"Said the girl who tried to crawl up the steps. Right. Let's get you to bed."

"Let's get _you_ to bed." She smirked back, pulling his shirt up a little.

He blushed and pulled her hand away, leading her to the bedroom.

"Here, just, uh.."

She had flopped down on the bed and was trying to pull herself under the covers.

He just shook his head and helped her get her shoes off.

"Night, Batgirl." He said, tucking her in. "You need anything, I'm just in the other room, ok?"

"Stay." she grumbled, reaching out towards him.

"No way, you're too handsy." he joked, backing out of the room. "But I promise to make you the best hangover remedy ever when you wake up. You're definitely going to need it."

Now she looked down at the sleeping bartender and her head was pounding, just like he had said. Why did she have to get so drunk that she let a stranger take her to an unfamiliar place? And throwing herself at yet another guy who didn't want her? If only Nik was here to see it. He would tear into her for being so stupid.

His eyes opened. She panicked and scurried towards the door.

"Hey, hold up." he grumbled.

She froze.

"Where you going?" he asked.

"I uh, I should go."

"Stay." he smiled. "I'll make you breakfast"

She hesitated in the doorway, considering bolting out anyway, but she was hungry and her head was pounding.

"I'm Matt, by the way. I think I said that last night, but you were kinda gone."

She just nodded.

"Still not going to tell me your real name?" he asked.

She shook her head.

"Alright, Batgirl it is. How do you like your eggs?"

Rebekah hesitantly walked over to the kitchen area of the apartment, taking a seat at one of the folding chairs next to the tiny table. She watched Matt fix breakfast for them, and tried to think of anything to fill the silence.

He set a plate in front of her and reached into the fridge for a few bottles. She watched with curiosity as he mixed a can of beer, some hot sauce, gatorade and some airborne tablets into a glass.

He set the murky drink in front of her, along with a plate of eggs, a few aspirin and a glass of water.

"I'm not drinking that." she muttered.

"Fine. Enjoy your hangover." he shrugged.

"This is supposed to help? It's going to make me vomit."

He picked up the glass and took a sip. "See? Not so bad."

She tried to down it all in one sip, but she had to take a break. It was awful. Nasty, gritty awful drink. But she figured it was worth a shot, so she forced the whole thing down along with the aspirin and the water and she went back to her breakfast, praying the pounding in her head would stop.

A half hour later, Matt had convinced her to sit on the couch with him and watch some cartoons while they picked all the marshmallows out of a box of lucky charms.

"I can't believe you've never seen scooby-doo before." he exclaimed "What did you do when you were a kid?"

"Not sit around and watch television!"

"Are you kidding? Thats a crime! Every kid should have a few lazy Saturdays where they sit on the couch all day in their PJs."

"Well, I never did." she said, starting to get up.

He pulled her back on the couch.

"Stay. Try it."

She curled up next to him and watched the silly cartoons. He kept handing her all the horseshoes and balloons from the cereal because she had mentioned those ones were her favorites. It was nice. He was nice. Nice was very different than what she was used to.

They had been curled up on the couch for a while, just relaxing and sharing some idle chatter. She hated to admit that his disgusting concoction had cured her hangover, and even worse, it felt good to be curled up against him. She didn't want to get too attached. She always got too attached. She was leaving anyway.

A knock on the door made her jump, and the key in the lock made her pull away from him.

"Hello? Matt?" A voice called out.

A girl carrying two large dishes wrapped in aluminum foil let herself in and set them on the kitchen counter.

"Oh." the girl exclaimed, looking down at the two of them on the couch. "I uh... Hi."

Rebekah looked at Matt for an explanation.

"Hey Bonnie." he smiled. "This is..."

"Hi." Rebekah said "I'm Barbie. Nice to meet you."

Matt gave Rebekah a knowing look, fully aware that she wasn't giving her real name.

"Right." Bonnie said, giving them a once over. "I just brought over some food from Grams. One if for you and one is for Sheriff Forbes. Do you think you can run it over to her? I'm so late for work."

"No problem." Matt said. "Thanks, Bon."

Bonnie gave them another awkward look and scurried out of the apartment.

"My friend passed away recently." Matt said quietly "We bring her mom food."

"I'm sorry." Rebekah said. "That must be difficult."

"It's been hard, I miss her so much. But, this town takes care of their own. Her mom need us."

Rebekah smiled. She could see so much good in him. It was too bad she's have to leave, never to see him again.

"Do you want to come with me?" He asked. "I should go drop this off now."

Rebekah was curious. Forbes. It was Caroline's mother. The girl Nik had dragged into their house. Of course she was curious.

"I'd love to." She smiled.

* * *

Rebekah watched the storefronts and houses of the small town pass by as she sat in the passenger seat of the truck. This was nice. It was simple. It was easy. He woke up and just pulled her in for the day, never bringing up how she threw herself at him or how much of a mess she had been. There was no awkward conversation or prying questions. He was just easy to be around, relaxed, content. It was so different from anything she was used to. She felt relaxed, even though she knew she should be on her guard.

He pulled onto a new street.

"It's this one" He said, pointing at one of the houses ahead of them.

She looked out and tried to picture it, this was the place that girl had come from.

There was someone on the sidewalk, looking out at the house.

He turned around and she flinched, snapping off her seatbelt and flinging herself to the floor of the truck. She could recognize his face from a mile away.

"Are you ok?" Matt asked.

"Shhh!" Rebekah hissed. "Just. Don't say anything. Pretend I'm not here."

Matt looked confused.

"Act like I'm not here! Don't look down!" she barked out.

"Ok, crazy." He muttered.

She held her breath as he opened up the door and walked down the driveway to deliver the casserole or whatever was under that aluminum foil. She couldn't breathe. What if he saw her?

Matt got back in the car and turned the key a few times before the engine kicked. He drove the car down the bumpy road and watched as she waited until they turned the corner to climb back into her seat.

He shook his head and pulled into the parking lot they used whenever they snuck out to the falls in high school, shutting off the engine.

"Alright, whatever that was back there, you have to give me an explanation."

Rebekah bit her tongue, trying to think of something, anything.

* * *

It was the right address. He had checked seven times. But still, he found himself hesitating as he shifted his weight from one side to the other, standing next to the mailbox.

Kevlar was heavy. It bunched your clothes up weird and pinched when you sat down. But he figured the vest was a worthy precaution. She would answer the door armed, after all. No sheriff worth their badge would just fling the front door open without checking, and if she knew it was him, he'd be lucky to get off with just a shot to the chest. Of course, she could always aim for his head, but he was confident enough in his reflexes to be able to deflect that one.

_Just walk up to the front door. Hand her the phone. Get out._

_Just do it._

_What are you waiting for?_

But it was her mother, and for some reason that made Liz Forbes seem a little more intimidating than he had anticipated.

He heard the grind of gears and the whine of brakes in serious need of replacement. Willing to take any excuse to delay his ascent up the driveway, he watched the truck come into view and lumber down the street.

From a distance it looked like two people were in the car, but it must have just been the light. As the truck got closer it was clear the driver was the only one in the car. A young man pulled up a little past the Forbes house and got out, carrying a large dish wrapped in aluminum foil.

Klaus pretended to be an ordinary citizen, just out for a walk. He moved at a leisurely pace, keeping his back to the Forbes house as he heard the man knock, the Sheriff answer, and the brief exchange that followed.

He glanced back at the man as he walked in the car. The face was unfamiliar, Not a council member, but obviously someone with connections to the families if he was bringing sympathy casseroles to the grieving mother. He would have to dig through the files to match a name to it. Once the truck wheezed it's way out of sight he moved back towards the Forbes house.

Every step towards the front door felt like his shoes were made of lead. He knew she was there, so he couldn't even soothe himself with the thought that she might be out. Why was he doing this? And why was he so anxious about it? He refused to acknowledge that he was nervous. Nervous was not an emotion he knew. And it didn't matter who she was or whose mother she was. He could do this.

He knocked.

There was some movement inside and he could hear the footsteps approach the door, then pause as she looked out the peek-hole.

The door flung open and the barrel of a pistol pointed square at his chest.

"You have two seconds to get off my porch before I shoot a hole through your heart." Liz warned.

"She's alive." He said.

The gun didn't waver. Her expression of hatred stayed fixed on him. She already knew.

Klaus took a step forward. The gun was touching his shirt.

"I could shoot you point blank in front of ten witnesses and this town would throw me a parade." she growled.

"But then you'll never get to see her again. I know where she is, you don't. If you kill me..."

"If I kill you, that's just one less monster I have to protect this town from."

"You need me to stay alive if you ever want to see your daughter again."

"I don't negotiate with those who kill Council members."

"Interesting set of priorities you have." He muttered, shoving his way past her into the house.

"I didn't invite you in." She hissed.

"Well, I'm in. So close the door. Lets talk priorities."

Liz stomped into the house, keeping her gun aimed at him. He walked around the room, taking in the sights and smells. A familiar hint of cologne and bourbon tinged the air.

"You've had a visitor recently." He muttered. "Damon came here himself to tell you she was still alive?"

"You think you can threaten him? We'll take you down before you can blink." she spat out.

"And there's my first condition." He muttered, rummaging through his pockets. Liz's eyes followed his hands, waiting for him to pull out a gun. Instead he pulled out a phone and placed it on the table in front of him.

"Condition for what?"

"For if you want to speak to your daughter." He motioned to the phone. "This one is programmed to receive calls from one other phone. Untraceable, so don't bother. When I get back to her, I'm giving her the other one so she can speak to you. You'll know she's safe. But there are conditions."

Liz nodded.

"You will never invite Damon Salvatore into this house again. You will not socialize with him. You will not work with him. You will simply ignore his existence."

"You expect me to sit by and watch you kill him?" she challenged.

"No, I expect you to throw me a parade." He quipped. "But that would be expecting too much, wouldn't it? Now about the other conditions, I just have two more. One is that you will use your power on the council to talk down any possible attack on my family."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because we have Caroline. An attack on us is an attack on her."

"And your final condition?"

"You will let me walk out of here unharmed. You will do this because you know leaving me unharmed is your best chance at seeing your daughter again."

Liz nodded slowly.

Klaus stood up.

"That phone's going to ring tomorrow. You have my word."

A loud crack rang through the room and Klaus was knocked back onto the couch. He felt like he was kicked in the stomach, and beyond the pain there was the heat of the metal embedded in the kevlar.

She was watching, expecting him to bleed out on her sofa. Instead he reacted with the trained agility and grace that was so commonly whispered of the Mikaelsons. He sprang forward and lunged at her.

He knocked her on her back, sending the gun flying across the room.

Before Liz had time to process what had happened, she was trapped. He had managed to pull her arms behind her back and zip-tie them to the leg of a heavy table. She would be able to free herself with some maneuvering, but it would take time. He could kill her twenty times over before she could escape.

"If you weren't her mother, you'd already be dead." He said calmly.

"Go ahead and kill me. We'll have you in a matter of days." She threatened.

He sighed and sat down on the floor next to her.

"You know, I did my research on you. Divorced, no siblings, your parents passed years ago. You have one child. Just one. She's your only family. And yet you try to kill me, knowing I'm your best hope of seeing her again. Why?"

"Some things are more important than family."

"Like what? This town? Your Council?"

"They're all I have. I will always put them first."

"And Caroline?"

"She's already gone." Liz said. "I already said goodbye to my daughter when I put an empty box in the ground. If she's involved with your family, she's not my daughter anymore."

"You are a miserable excuse for a parent; you don't deserve a daughter like her."

"You don't deserve to breathe."

"Until next time.." He said, backing out of the room.

Then he was gone.

* * *

Liz waited until she heard the door click to wiggle her way out from under the table leg. The plastic zip tie dug into her skin a little, but it would break easily once she got her hands on something to cut it off. She would have to find the scissors on the kitchen counter with her arms still behind her back, but she'd been through a lot worse. He had left her virtually untouched. It didn't make any sense. The Mikaelsons were ruthless. He should have killed her. It must me some sort of game, a trap. He could still be there, waiting for her to relax and feel safe before he took her by surprise. The Wolf was notorious for getting inside people's heads, the game of driving them mad as much a part of his style as his preference for knives. But she pulled her looped arms under the leg of the table and managed to free herself, and he didn't pop out of the shadows.

As she managed to stand up with her arms still behind her back she noticed the phone was still there.

* * *

Caroline and Elijah were spending yet another breakfast in silence. Esther had been in and out quickly, mumbling about meetings. She gave Caroline a friendly nod as she rushed out. It wasn't a warm hug and cookies, but Caroline's own mother was usually cool and professional even at home, so it wasn't jarring. In fact, it was nice. The simplest little things, a "Good job" after her daily hour of target practice or the hint of approval she seemed to show whenever Henrik begged for _just five more minutes_ of talking to Caroline before he was ordered off to bed were what kept her going. She could see that Esther was slowly beginning to see her as something other than a nuisance.

Esther was out and Alaric was in. He was rummaging through the kitchen, snatching up grapefruits, oranges, apples, onions, potatoes.

"You're going to want to see this." He smiled, motioning to the back yard.

Caroline followed him to the porch and watched him approach Henrik, who was carefully practicing the upward sweep and downward diagonal swing with a katana sword.

Alaric was joking as he chucked the fruits and vegetables at Henrik, who managed to slice most in half on the first try. Henrik kept his form and moved the sword at the exact same angle every time. He didn't have confidence, presence or muscle mass that suggested a bare handed brutality like his older brothers, but he shared their grace and precision.

"So you're like a regular around here now, huh?" Alaric asked Caroline as he picked up another piece of food to hurl at Henrick. Each pitch was getting faster or following a more difficult curve.

"Until Klaus lets me leave, I guess I'm stuck here. But he's still gone. Not that I want to be around him anyway." she huffed. She was still mad at him for that stupid phone call. Just calling to check in. As if everything would be just fine.

"Stop pretending like you're not dying to see him again." Alaric teased.

"I'm good, thanks." Caroline grumbled.

"You know, I'm in the business of spotting liars."

"Just keep throwing the oranges."

* * *

Security at the Salvatore home was lacking. Sure there were security cameras and alarms, but it was nothing like the fortress that was the Mikaelson home. There as no need for it. Their most deadly enemies stayed out of Mystic Falls, kept the fighting to the cities instead. It wasn't worth the risk to start a fight in the middle of their central hub.

But Klaus wasn't looking for a fight. He just wanted to play.

The cameras were in full view, making it easy for him to figure out the blind spots. He wondered if they were even turned on if they were just for show. There were several art heists he had pulled off thanks to cameras that weren't actually operating. No point in worrying about it, Damon was out at work along with Giuseppe, and Stefan was in a class. The most he had to worry about was running into a cleaning lady.

The best course of action was to slip in through Damon's bedroom window. He managed to scale the wall with the help of some uneven bricks, and as he balanced in the windowsill, he pried the window open with his knife. As he leaned forward to pull himself through the window a dull pain in his stomach hit him. There would be a nasty bruise. He wished he could be surprised she had the audacity to shoot him. So much for making a positive impression with the mother.

He looked around the room. The plan was to make his mark as quickly as possible and get out, but he hadn't been expecting the strange feeling he got from being there. Was this where it all happened? How many terrifying nights had she spent in this room?

He crouched down on the floor and traced his hand along the carpet. It was faded in patches, as if someone had to use bleach and other harsh chemicals to remove difficult stains. Blood stains. Her blood.

The calm rage the build inside him was intoxicating. It wasn't the heat that made one shake with anger. No, it was more. It was the horrible and wonderful feeling of knowing what lies ahead, of knowing that you'll be able to inflict pain in the most satisfying ways. At first, the heat of anger spread through him, being here. But now it was like stepping into a warm bath. He was surrounded by the feeling of knowing he could make Damon suffer more than she ever had. And it would feel so good.

He snapped himself out of it and got to work. The closet first. It was impeccably organized, rows of expensive suits, designer shirts, lots of black. He picked an item of clothing here and there and sliced into it, dragging three cuts across the chest of a shirt, the leg of a set of pants, the back of a jacket. Then he went to the desk. At least Damon was smart enough to hide his laptop when he left the room. The desk was empty. He dug his knife across the wood, leaving the same three stripes digging into the mahogany.

Klaus paced around the room, trying to decide what else to do, when something caught his eye. there was a gift bag with a few bottles of red wine sitting on a table. He fumbled through his keys to find a corkscrew to pry the tops off, then he poured the first bottle out on the white sheets of Damon's bed, and the second one all over the carpet. The deep red splattered across the meticulously clean carpet and left patters that were unmistakably suggestive of bloodshed. Finally, he caught sight of a few framed photos on the wall. One of them was of the two brothers and their father, the other was of Damon with the Gilbert girl. Klaus found a pen on the desk and drew an 'x' over each face.

Satisfied with his work, he slipped out. It was enough for now. He had someone to get home to.

* * *

Elijah was on the phone, pacing around the guest room while Caroline sat on the bed with a book in front of her.

"Yes, I'm sure Spain is lovely Bekah, but I have things to do, and Niklaus seems to be taking his time... I understand your friend invited you, but I have more pressing matters... no of course your happiness is important to me, just... Bekah, I can't keep cooped up in this house, mother's driving me up a wall"

"How do you think I feel?" Caroline grumbled.

He shot her a look that made her clamp her mouth shut and went back to his phone call.

"No Bekah, she's not causing any trouble... honestly, I'm surprised you have any friends left with an attitude like that...now don't start...fine...very well...goodbye."

He sighed as he put the phone down and collapsed into one of the chairs in the room, pinching the bridge of his nose.

The phone rang again and Elijah groaned as he reached for it, keeping his eyes closed.

"What now, Bek- oh."

He opened his eyes and looked at Caroline.

"Yes, buzz him in." He said to the phone.

Caroline tilted her head, waiting for an explanation.

Elijah hung up the phone.

"Niklaus is at the gate. He's back."

She tore out of the room and ran down the stairs.

* * *

**A/N - sorry for the lack of Klaroline in this chapter, I promise the next one will be full of it. Now that these two are finally going to be face to face again, they've got a lot to work through. Again, thank you all so much for reading and leaving reviews. I love seeing them, they make my day. **


	13. Chapter 13

**Thank you so so much for the reviews! I love reading every single one. This is another long, long chapter, so here. we. go. **

* * *

Caroline ran down the stairs and across the ground floor of the house. Alaric and Henrik looked up from the table they were sitting at, watching her run.

"Making your escape?" Alaric joked.

"He's back." She said, a little out of breath.

Henrik stood up from his seat, but Alaric rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Not yet buddy, either way this one goes, you're not going to want to be caught in the middle of it."

Henrik watched from the window instead. The car had pulled up in front of the house. Caroline reached the front door. He was getting out of the car. She was running down the steps.

Klaus beamed up at the girl barreling down the stairs to reach him. She was a wash of sun soaked colors and golden wind tousled hair.

His back slammed into the car behind him as she knocked into him, shoving him back. His arms reached out, loving the enthusiasm, knowing she was going to kiss him.

Instead she slapped him across the face.

"How could you?" she demanded.

"I didn't-" he started.

She ignored him and punched him hard in the chest. He didn't even flinch and it made her crazy. He was unfazed by it. In fact, he seemed like he was almost enjoying it. He smirked at her as she huffed at him, annoyed at how amused he seemed to be by her little outburst of violence. She swung to hit him again and he caught her wrist. She tried the other and he caught that one too, leaving her struggling to find any way to inflict some pain. He had caused her so much, running off, not listening to her pleas to just leave things alone.

"How could you?" She shouted again. "Why are you doing this to me?"

He wrapped his arms around her tight, leaving hers pinned against him so she couldn't attempt another attack. Not that she was able to inflict any damage.

"Stop now love, you're making a scene."

"You left in the middle of the night!"

"I didn't realise you wanted me around so much."

"It's not you leaving, it's what you were leaving to do!"

"Stop yelling, they're watching from the windows." He warned her. Henrik and Alaric were peaking through curtains, watching the way she scolded him in the driveway.

"You just killed him?" she asked.

"Not yet." He said.

She looked up at him, stunned.

"Why not? I thought you left to..."

"I did. I'm still going to. I took care of some other things."

"Why didn't you do it?"

"He doesn't deserve the mercy of a quick death. I let him know what's coming for him. For now, that will suffice."

She looked up at him, and forgot why she had felt so safe with him in the first place. His words chilled her. He didn't kill out of need or self-defense. It was a cold-blooded, calculated thing to him. He would rather cause more pain than have things neatly summed up.

She shivered and tried to pull back. She needed to get away.

He saw the look in her eyes, the wash of fear that ran through her like ice.

"You're ok." he said quietly, pulling her tighter.

She just glared at him and pushed away, wiggling until he finally conceded and released her.

"Am I free to go?" She demanded.

"Go where?"

"You said I had to stay hidden here until people knew you were alive. Now you're back from your terror trip, so I can go, right?"

"Correct. We don't have to stay here anymore."

"There is no 'we'."

"Of course there is. Can _we_ just stay for dinner? Mother will have my head if I leave before she gets back, then we can go wherever you want."

"I don't want _us_ to go anywhere. I just want to go home."

"I'm afraid that's the one place I cannot allow you to go."

She took another step back from him, tears filling her eyes. Her anger was turning to frustration as she realized just how little she could do about her current situation. He had all the power. She had nothing.

"Why are you doing this? You took everything."

"Im not-" He started.

"Everyone thinks I'm dead. I miss my friends, my mother. You took me away from them. You took my whole life away from me."

"Please understand, it's too dangerous for you to go there."

"I miss them."

"I know. Thats why I spoke to your mother."

"You what?" She said, looking stunned.

"I gave her a phone. It's linked to one here. It's a safe line for you to speak to her."

"I don't understand."

"I'll have to stay in the room with you, of course. To make sure you don't tell her anything that's classified or that could put my family in harm's way. But you'll be able to talk to her. It has a video function, so you'll see each other's faces."

"Is she ok?" Caroline asked.

He absently rubbed the sore spot on his stomach, from where Liz had fired a bullet into his Kevlar vest.

"She's fine. She misses you." He said. "She can't wait to hear from you."

Lie. It was a lie. But she had looked at him, so hopeful, so thankful. He didn't want to crush it. He just hoped that Liz would care enough to pick up the phone and tell her daughter all the things parents should say to their children.

He reached back into the car and pulled the phone out of the center console where it had been charging.

"This is it. We can go inside and you can talk to her now if you'd like."

""How did you do it? Get the phone to her?"

"I knocked on your front door."

"Elijah said you were in Miami."

"I made a second stop."

"He said your family doesn't usually go into Mystic Falls. It's too easy to be surrounded or ambushed."

"I thought it was worth the risk."

She stepped back, feeling suddenly like she was suffocating. It was too much. She wanted to be angry. She wanted to be furious at him. Why did he have to twist things around and make her feel something else? She needed to step away from him or she would do something wrong. She would grab on to him and never let go. It couldn't happen. She needed to get away before he pulled her in completely.

"Are you alright?" He asked, looking her over. "You can call her now, if you'd like."

"Yes." She said, backing away from him a little more. "I'll call her. That would be... thank you."

She was smiling. He had done something right. He felt a rush of happiness, watching as she tried to hide her smile, biting her bottom lip, looking anxiously at the phone. Liz Forbes better put on a good show and play the part of a loving mother when she answered. He had seen how cold she could get, but there was no need for Caroline to see it too. Liz would play along if she knew what was good for her.

"You don't have to thank me." he said.

"I do. You cold have gotten hurt"

_I did,_ he thought, touching the bruise on his stomach. _But you're happy_.

"I thought you said nothing could hurt me. I'm invincible, remember?" he said.

"Still..." she trailed off.

"She's your family. I understand how important family is."

"She's the only family I have. Her and my dad, but he's always gone. It's been just her and me for as long as I can remember."

"Call her."

* * *

They were up in the guest room. He had greeted his brothers quickly and told them that he needed to take care of something and would spend time with them shortly. Elijah rolled his eyes at the way Niklaus scurried after the girl, but Henrik just smiled and looked at Caroline for a sign. He had seen their squabble in the driveway, but it seemed like the two of them were getting along again. Caroline gave Henrik a reassuring nod that everything was fine.

Now the two of them were sitting on the bed, the phone resting on the duvet between them.

"Remember the rules?" He asked her again. They had been over it twice.

"Yeah, I got it."

"Tell me." he chided.

"No descriptions of our location. No mention of which of your family members are here. Nothing about how to find me."

"Good."

Caroline sighed, shaking her head.

"I feel like a hostage. Like I should be asking her for the ransom so you won't kill me."

"How many times do I have to tell you that you're safe with me?"

"Safe in a cage."

"You're not a hostage. Caroline, if they come here, they're not going to make it to you. We're very well armed and protected. There's no need to send them on a suicide mission when you're not being kept here against your will. I'll keep my promise. We can go anywhere. Tomorrow. Wherever you want."

"Anywhere except Mystic Falls."

"It's not safe."

"It's home. It's where all my friends are."

"We'll figure something out. I'll find a way to bring them to you, anything, but you can't go there. Not yet."

She sighed and shook her head. Not a hostage. Right.

"Alright. I'm ready." she said.

He punched in the code and pushed a few buttons, holding the phone out to her.

* * *

"Hello?" Liz Forbes spoke warily into the phone.

"Mom?" Caroline whispered.

The video function clicked on.

They could see each other.

Klaus watched as tears formed in Caroline's eyes.

"Mom. I'm ok. I'm sorry. Everything's fine." she said, her voice cracking.

He tensed up, waiting for the voice on the other side.

"Honey, I can't believe it. Are you ok? Are you hurt?"

He let out a breath. Liz was doing right. She was at least playing the part of a good mother, even if he knew in his gut she wasn't anywhere near such a thing.

"I'm fine mom. I'm safe. I can't come home for a while, but everything's ok."

"Why can't you come home? We need you here. I miss you."

"I just can't."

"Are they keeping you hostage? What do they want? Money?"

"Mom. I know. I know about the Council, about everything."

"Caroline." Liz warned, her tone changing from sweet to cold instantly. "Whatever they said to you, don't trust it. They lie. They're the enemy. Don't forget it."

Caroline looked up at Klaus, her expression conflicted.

"They're not all bad, mom."

Liz saw her eyes flicker away from the screen.

"Is he there with you? Are they watching you? Which ones are there?"

"Mom, I can't tell you."

"Listen to me, Caroline. The one who showed up at my house. He is dangerous. He's a wolf. He will kill you the first chance he gets."

"Mom, he's had plenty of chances. He hasn't. They've been nothing but kind to me."

"He killed the Fell brothers four days ago. Do you remember Logan Fell? He used to babysit you. That man you're defending ripped him open from sternum to navel."

Caroline bit her lip and looked up at him. His eyes went down to his hands and she knew it was true. She wanted to hate him for it. But she looked at the phone, at her mother's image, and wondered whose blood was on her hands. There was no way Liz was innocent if she was involved in such a longstanding feud with people like them.

"And Damon." Liz continued. "Did you know he's going after Damon? That boy was the best thing that ever happened to you, and you threw it away. He could have given you a good life, if you weren't so foolish and caught up in partying and other boys. Now you're defending the person who's trying to kill him?"

"It's not that simple." Caroline protested.

"It is, If you cared about Damon at all, after everything he's done for you-"

Klaus's eyes darkened. He moved over to Caroline and put a hand over the phone.

"Tell her. If she knew, she wouldn't say these things." He whispered, covering the speaker on the phone.

"I don't want her to know. She doesn't need the burden." Caroline whispered back.

"So it's on you instead? How could she be so blind? How many times were you in the hospital?"

"Drop it." She said, shoving him away.

Liz panicked when she saw him on the screen for a brief moment, then it went black. She couldn't hear much, just muffled voices. For a moment, she worried that he would do it right there, kill Caroline with her watching and unable to stop it. It was his style. But then the video was back up and Caroline was fine. Liz had tried to figure out what they were whispering about, but she only heard the word _hospital_. The rest was indecipherable.

Something else made her stomach twist just as much. It was the way Caroline looked at him when he appeared on the screen next to her. She wasn't behaving the way a hostage would behave when one of their captors got close. She didn't flinch or cower, in fact, she seemed to be arguing with him like they were an old married couple. It didn't fit. What wasn't Caroline saying?

"Tell me where you are." Liz said, trying to sound authoritative. Maybe there was a way to get her out. She could talk to the council about it. Maybe she wouldn't have to just say goodbye again.

"I can't tell you." Caroline sighed.

"Why? Did they threaten you? Be brave and tell me."

"I don't want you to hurt them." Caroline said.

Liz's mouth opened in shock.

Caroline felt a lump in her throat. She didn't know it was how she felt until the words were out of her mouth. But it was true. She didn't want any of them to get hurt. Klaus was... well, she didn't really know what he was, but he kept drawing her in. Then there was Henrik, and the thought of him getting hurt was more than she could handle. He was innocent of all of it, just a sweet kid. And Kol, as lecherous and pervy as he was, he was fun and Jeremy Gilbert seemed to think he was pretty great. Esther had taught her how to defend herself, how to operate a handgun. Her own mother had never thought to pass that knowledge on. Rebekah and Elijah weren't as warm, but she felt like there was a chance, eventually, that she could be friendly with them. They were just protective of their family. They weren't bad people, they just did bad things.

"Caroline, you don't know what you're saying. They're making you say that."

"No, I mean it. Don't hurt them. I'm fine."

"You don't mean that."

"Yes I do."

"You can't have both." Liz said. "Either they get hurt or we do. The people you love. The people you grew up with."

Caroline couldn't take it anymore.

"I'll call you again soon, ok?" she said softly.

"Tell me where you are!" Liz shouted.

Caroline hung up.

* * *

She flopped back on the bed, letting the phone fall from her hand. It was too much. Everyone was going to tear each other apart and she'd be in the middle, unable to stop it. It was all her fault.

She shook slightly as she cried without noise, blocking her face with her hands. He was still there. He needed to leave. Let her deal with it in peace. Let her crumble without anyone watching and judging how weak she was.

He hesitated, staying still as he watched her fall apart the second she hung up. He had meant to give her some reassurance with the phone, he thought it would make her happy, but all it had done was hurt her. All his attempts to make things better just ended up making things worse.

He carefully moved towards her and gently pulled her hands away from her face. Hr pulled his sleeve up to his hand to wipe away her tears and she gave him a weak smile.

She wasn't pushing him away so he moved a little closer, wrapping an arm behind her back and lifting her up so she was curled against his chest.

"You're going to be fine." He whispered into her hair. "You're ok."

"I feel like I lost her. You didn't see how she was looking at me. Like I wasn't her daughter anymore."

"She'll come around."

"I don't think-"

"She will. She just needs some time." He said._ And the right motivation_, he thought. If Liz Forbes couldn't shape up and play nice, he'd have to find a way to force her into it.

He moved a little closer and used his thumb to wipe away the tears that were starting to fall.

She let her head rest against his chest and looked up at him as he gently held on to her, pushing away the tears as they fell. He looked determined to fix it, focused on her, brow furrowed. She tried to smile, but it only made her cry more. His idea of fixing things wasn't what she wanted. She just wanted some piece of her old life back. She needed to feel like the person she was before she met him hadn't been ripped away. Her own mother had looked at her like she was a lost cause, all because she felt something for him and his family.

"You didn't see her." She sniffled. "She just looked at me like-"

"Oof." Klaus grunted as Caroline snuggled closer to him, her elbow poking into his stomach.

She flinched back. "Sorry."

"You're fine, just lets move that over." he said, reaching for her arm.

She pulled at his shirt, her curiosity getting the better of her. She hadn't elbowed him that hard. Earlier, she had punched him with full force and he didn't even flinch.

He pushed her hand away, which only made her more curious.

She reached for it again and he deflected, playfully tossing her against some pillows.

She giggled and lunged at him, toppling him on his back too easily as he let her playfight with him. They rolled around and got tangled up, laughing as she kept trying to pull at his shirt and he kept deflecting.

They were laughing as she swatted him with a pillow and he found a ticklish spot behind her knee. She jumped on him again, straddling him as she pinned his arms back behind his head. He smiled up at her from where he lay, letting her play with him. Her hair draped over one shoulder and grazed his face.

Her smiled faded into a more serious expression as the energy shifted and she realized the position she was in. Her eyes grazed over him, taking the time to fully appreciate how beautiful he was. The way he looked at her was intoxicating. He wasn't just the bad guy, there were good parts to him as well. It wouldn't be so bad...

Her eye caught where his shirt rode up, exposing a nasty purple welt on his stomach peppered with red black blotches where blood vessels broke beneath the skin.

"What is that?" She asked, pulling at his shit. "What happened?"

"It's nothing."

"No, it's not. You got hurt. "

She carefully traced along the edges of the bruise and felt him tense up under her.

"What happened?"

"Your mother shot me."

"What?"

"I was expecting it. I'm not exactly her favorite person." He said, trying to make a joke of it. "Wore a vest. It's fine."

"But this bruise..."

"Kevlar can only do so much at close range. Your home is lovely. I saw some pictures of you hanging up. Cheerleading? You don't still have the uniform, do you? Because I was thinking..."

"She shot you? Did she know you were wearing a vest?"

"Probably not. About that uniform..."

"You knew she was going to? And you went over anyway? What if she shot you in the head?"

"Why would she do that?" He murmured, trying to pull Caroline closer. His hands moved away from where she had them pinned over his head and moved around her back, keeping her from moving away from where she sat straddled over him.

"If she was trying to kill you..."

"She wouldn't go for the shot that killed me instantly. More fun to watch me bleed out over a few hours. Do you still know any of the routines? What about that thing with the jumping and the legs up in the air, can you do that?"

"You didn't hurt her. She was fine, on the phone." Caroline said, stunned.

"Mmmhmm." He hummed, playing with her hair.

"She hurt you. Tried to kill you. But you didn't retaliate."

"Like you said, she's your family. I won't hurt her."

"You..." She trailed off, letting it all sink in.

He shifted up on his elbows moving his face closer to hers.

"It's real?" She asked.

He didn't have to ask what she was referring to. It had been a point of contention, his affections for her and her uneasiness accepting them. She was convinced that it wasn't just about her. It was something else, part of a plan. She could never see herself the way he saw her. She didn't understand, so she dismissed it as false.

But her mother was on the phone. She was fine. No one crossed him and survived.

"It's real for me." He said, scanning her face.

For the first time, she saw a flicker of vulnerability in him. He had proved something to her, but she hadn't bothered trying to show him that she could be trusted. She was always back and forth on if she felt something, trying to keep her distance but at the same time never feeling quite right without him next to her. She was too busy fighting it to think of what he was gambling. If he trusted her and she betrayed him, it could ruin him, destroy the reputation he spent the last decade building, topple his family's empire.

She leaned closer, holding his face in her hands.

He was so painfully lonely. She could see it in his eyes. He seemed cocky and dangerous, chasing her down, backing her into corners, playing the part of the hunter. But now she was here, not running, and she could tell he was uneasy about what that meant.

"It's real for me too." She whispered.

He swallowed, warily watching her face. It was like he was waiting for her to use the moment of distraction as a chance to plunge a knife in him. He wanted it, he wanted her, but at the same time he couldn't just let himself believe it. It was blinding light. It was too good to be true. He would certainly enjoy it, and perhaps he would even let himself get lost in the moment and believe it to be real, if only for a minute. But he couldn't let himself lose sight. The chances of her actually meaning it and not working some angle or just saying what she thought he wanted to hear so she could escape were one to a million. Mother and Elijah had certainly told him of that enough times.

"Hey." she said. "Remember this?"

She pulled at his hands, so he shifted up so he was sitting with her on his lap. She took his hands in hers and slid her hands down so her wrists were against his fingers.

He moved his fingers to her pulse points. She was challenging him try to pick a lie out of what she was saying. There was no way to find the telltale spike in her pulse, because it was already too fast. She was in panic mode.

"Your pulse is racing." he murmured.

"I'm terrified."

"You're safe. I'm going to keep you safe."

"That's what scares me." She said.

"Why?"

"Because I believe you. And..."

"And?"

"You never told me I had to pick between you and them. You never lied to me about what's happening. But they did. My mother, she's all I have. But she lied about it. And she wanted me to pick her at your expense. But you didn't handle things that way."

"I'm not compromising on what we talked about earlier." He reminded her. "I'll kill anyone who is a threat to you or my family. You can't get me to change my mind about Salvatore."

"I... I don't want you to do that. I'm going to keep trying to get you to change your mind, even if I know you won't. But I'm also..."

"What?"

"I'm glad you would do that for me. No one else would."

He traced a finger along her jaw.

He wanted to kiss her. She was perfect. She was looking at him. She was looking at him like he wasn't an abomination or a disappointment or any of the other things Mikael reminded him he was every day of his life. She was looking at him like he was worth something. He couldn't stop thinking about kissing her. Would she let him? Would she kiss back?

"Klaus?" She asked, interrupting his thoughts.

"Huh?"

"Do you think..."

"Think what?"

"That this is a good idea? We're not in too deep. We can walk away."

She was giving him an out. An escape clause.

He could see she was nervous. She was shaking, her hands twisting along her arms, trying to hide the jittery movements. He watched her try so hard to act like it wasn't destroying her to say it, to give him a chance to back out.

"Why would I want to walk away?"

"It'll never work. We were born on opposite sides. It's never going to stop. I can't shut off how I feel about people I've known my whole life."

"I'll figure something out. Just stay with me."

She searched his face. He could tell she was frightened. Frightened of what would happen if she stayed, but more of what would happen if she broke it off. He wanted her, and he was certain she wanted it too. She just needed to know she wasn't making a mistake.

She was biting her lip, looking at him like she was trying to weigh the risk of what they both knew she wanted.

He could convince her. He would play dirty if he had to. If he could just get her to say yes once, he would make sure it was better than anything she'd ever experienced. Better than what she could ever imagine. It would be tortuous work, keeping himself in check, pushing away impulses to chase what was already building up. No. He would need to take it slow. Watch her for cues.

Oh, yes, he had warned her. He told her he was good at reading people. She had no idea what she was in for. He wouldn't go easy on her. He needed her to be in shock from it. He needed her on the edge of human. He needed her digging into his skin and begging him not to stop. He needed to leave some mark on her that would make her his. He wasn't going to share or bow out this time. It was all or nothing and he had no intention of walking away with nothing.

"Klaus I.." She started.

"It's real." he reminded her.

"I'm always the one who gets hurt." she said quietly.

"Not this time." he protested.

She softened, her hand trailing down to the bruise on his stomach.

"I didn't mean..." He protested. "Its fine. _It's nothing,_ honestly. I just meant that I won't let you get hurt."

She pulled his shirt up a little higher, fingers tracing around the bruise.

He pulled on her arm, pulling her hand away from the bruise and getting her to look at him. His face moved carefully, slowly, inching towards hers.

She leaned a little closer, but stopped short and looked back at him, scanning over his face. He looked determined, focused.

"Are you sure this is-" She started.

His lips landed on hers, cutting off her words.

She kissed back, letting her hands slide to the back of his neck, twisting her fingers through his hair.

He started out slow and soft, unsure of if she would even allow it, giving her every chance to pull away. His hands grazed her back, careful, as if she could break.

She pulled him closer and deepened the kiss, running her tongue along the seam of his lips, tugging gently on his hair as she brushed the tip of her tongue against his.

It triggered a response she didn't expect. His hands raked up her back, pushing her roughly against him. His tongue made its way into her mouth, tasting, devouring. His hand kept moving, moving across skin, pushing her closer and closer until they were crushed against each other.

She felt a heat spread inside her and sighed into his kiss.

The little noise made him feel powerful, eliciting such a response. He pinned her down, rolling them over on the bed so he was on top of her. He grabbed one of her legs behind the knee and hooked it around his side, his hand slowly moving up her thigh.

Her breathing quickened, anticipating where his hand was going.

He kissed down her neck to her chest, feeling her pulse against his lips as he kissed right above where her heart was slamming though her chest. He could taste it on her skin, all the emotions that were flying through her. Fear, arousal, confusion, anticipation.

His fingers inched a little closer, moving towards the increasing heat radiating from her.

Her back arched a bit, her body begging him to continue.

A bell rang downstairs.

He groaned in frustration and rested his forehead against her shoulder, reluctantly moving his hands away.

"The would be dinner." He grumbled.

"Can't we skip it?" She asked, still trying to catch her breath.

He kissed her shoulder, reveling in her reluctance to stop what they were doing.

"They'd only send someone up to get us." he said. "But later tonight, I'm getting you out of this house. No one's going to interrupt once we're at my flat across town."

"No maids, no siblings barging in?" She challenged.

"No one has a key." He smiled.

"So it'll be just us?" She asked, smiling back at him.

"I thought you weren't interested in_ us_."

"I reserve the right to change my mind."

"I'm glad you reconsidered."

* * *

Caroline went back to the guest room alone after dinner. It had been another stilted family evening. Henrik and Alaric had run out for supplies for their next hunting trip, and they had stopped for food while they were out. Rebekah was still out wherever she went. Kol was arriving back in town later that night, bringing Jeremy with him but leaving the rest of his troops behind. There were plans to meet up with him at a local pub once it got late enough.

Elijah and Klaus shared a few verbal digs and glares, but they were holding back more than before. She never had siblings of her own, but the dynamic reminded her a lot of dinners at the Gilbert house, with the squabbles between Elena, Katherine and Jeremy; although a bit more dramatic and with more threats of violence. Siblings always had a way to go from best friends to lunging at each other's throats and back rather quickly, every moment having a lifetime of memories behind it. Much like the Gilberts, the Mikaelsons were an odd mix and they clashed at times, but they would always defend each other against outsiders.

Caroline spent most of the meal helping Esther talk the two of them down from getting into fights, and she swore she saw a hint of appreciation in Esther's eyes as she managed to get Klaus to calm down and get through dinner without stabbing anyone.

Now she was sorting through the clothes Rebekah had given her, trying to find something suitable to wear out that night. More importantly, she was trying to figure out what to wear under her outfit, because she had a feeling that something was going to happen once she and Klaus made it to his apartment after their meeting with his brothers and Jeremy.

Klaus had made it very clear to Elijah that he and Caroline would only be staying a few minutes. Even that was mainly because Caroline lit up when he mentioned Jeremy would be there. She knew he wasn't enthused with the idea of hanging out with his brothers and Jeremy, but she had pouted and pleaded, agreeing that they would only stay a short while. She needed a reminder from home. Her mother had crushed her when she had hoped for comfort in speaking to her. It only made her more confused. She missed home so much, but the look in her mother's eyes had said that she had written her off the moment Caroline begged for her not to hurt them. As if caring about both sides made her a stranger.

She pulled a few things out of the bag and set them on the bathroom counter, looking for something to use to pack up the stuff she was planning on bringing over to his flat. There were a few toiletries the maids had left her that she was certain he wouldn't have lying around at his place. Next to the face wash and toothbrush sat a small metal carrying case. Esther had stopped by her room earlier to hand her the gun. She went over the safety procedures for what seemed like the millionth time, but that's how mothers were, always worrying. They had shared a moment of kinship, it was small and quiet, but it was nice. There was something unspoken that connected them, and the gun being passed from Esther to Caroline was a reminder of the kind of strength that only comes from pain.

She packed the gun in a large purse along with the toothbrush and a spare shirt.

There was a soft knock on the door. She was confused. Klaus never bothered knocking, he always just walked right in.

She opened the door and Henrik was there, looking a bit bashful and uncertain.

"Hey!" She smiled. "We missed you at dinner, come in."

Henrik came in and stood with his hands in front of him.

"Nik said you two are leaving. You're staying at his flat from now on?"

"Yeah, I don't want to overstay my welcome here. Your family's been so nice."

"Are you going to run?" He asked quietly. "I understand if you are. Alaric said you might, once you get out of here, he said I should say goodbye just in case."

"I'm not going to..." She sighed. "I don't know. I don't want to."

"Mum says that being part of this family means living with the fact that people will always either fear us or not really know us."

"If something happens between me and him and I can't be around anymore, it won't have anything to do with you. You know that, right?" She said.

Henrik nodded. "Yeah. But I like you staying here."

Caroline hugged him.

"Thank you for being so nice to me." She said. "For keeping me company when Klaus was gone. For everything."

"Why were you so mad at him when he came back?" Henrik asked. "I thought maybe you were breaking up with him."

"I don't think you can break up with someone you're not really dating."

"He's never brought a girl here." Henrik said quietly. "When you're on the other side of the house, he's always talking about you, to mum or Elijah or Alaric. They think you're good for him."

"Elijah?" She smiled. "He hates me."

"Elijah doesn't really dislike you. He thought you were playing some kind of game, but I don't think he does anymore. He's not very good at being friendly. None of us are." Henrik said.

"I think you're great at it." Caroline protested. "And I'm really going to miss having breakfast with you every day."

"Maybe I can visit Nik's sometimes." Henrik suggested.

"That would be nice. And to answer your question, I was mad at him because he's an ass and he was putting himself in danger for me. I don't want him to do that."

"He wouldn't do it for anyone else." Henrik said. "He's never done that for anyone that isn't family."

"I don't want him to get hurt." Caroline said.

"Then don't hurt him." Henrik replied, raising his voice just a little.

Caroline looked up at Henrik, shocked. He had never snapped at her.

"No, that sounded mean, I just meant... He's my big brother. All my life I thought he was superman, but now I'm getting older and I'm starting to see people for who they really are. And still I can't seem to spot a single weakness in him, except you."

Caroline tried to think of something to say. What could she say? she couldn't promise anything. She didn't want to lie. It was too early to make any kind of commitment, but their situation was on razor's edge. They couldn't just be causal and see where things went. There was too much at stake. Too much to be lost on both sides, too many secrets and personal moments so fast.

"I care about him, and about all of you a lot more than I expected. I'm not going to do anything that puts your family in danger."

"Ok." Henrik nodded. "Still friends?"

Caroline smiled. "Friends."

* * *

Kol was gesturing with every word, making the story come alive. This one involved a lion, a jammed shotgun, and a hotdog in a campfire.

Jeremy was holding his stomach from laughter, slapping his hand on the table as he occasionally interjected, adding tidbits to the story.

"So there I am, the trigger won't budge." Kol continued.

"You forgot to mention that your dinner had just caught fire." Jeremy added.

"Right, so the fire's spreading, gun's jammed..." Kol said.

Caroline excused herself to run to the bathroom.

Jeremy and Kol continued ribbing each other and making bawdy jokes that caused Elijah to shake his head. They were behaving like children, trying to out drink each other and growing louder as the night continued.

"Now this is a party." Jeremy said as the round of shots came.

He passed one to each of the three Mikaelson brothers at the table and set one in front of himself. They clinked glasses and downed them.

"I would have brought some of the others." Kol said "But someone threw a big temper tantrum over the Lockwood boy and won't let me bring him around."

"The Lockwood boy's lucky to be breathing." Klaus muttered.

Jeremy shifted nervously. Kol was the epitome of relaxed, but his brothers seemed to be wound like piano wire, always just the slightest nudge away from snapping.

Elijah looked off into the distance.

A beautiful young woman was weaving her way though the crowds. Dark waves fanned out as she turned a corner. She was smiling, but not at anyone in particular. She seemed to be there alone.

He couldn't stop staring. She was impossibly gorgeous, but somehow familiar. He tried to think of an excuse to go talk to her. What would he say?

"Oh shit." Jeremy yelped out, ducking down. "My sister."

Elijah's memory clicked into place. She was familiar because he poured over the files on the Gilbert family countless times. Always pausing to read the pages on the twins. Mirror images of each other, but as different as night and day. This one was Katherine. She was the one who traveled often, while Elena stayed in Mystic Falls, and Katherine was the one who usually wore her hair in curls.

Katherine froze in the crowd, her eyes locking on Jeremy, who was trying desperately not to call attention to himself or look at her.

"She's coming over here." Kol muttered.

"What do I do?" Jeremy demanded.

"Be cool." Kol hissed. "Just act natural. Say we're your friends."

"Oh my god, Jere!" Katherine shouted. "What are you doing here?"

She crawled over Elijah to get to Jeremy, who was wedged in the back of the booth where they sat. Klaus hid a smile at Elijah's indignant face as the girl shoved her way over him as if he was nothing more than a piece of furniture.

"Hey, Kat, I just-"

"Don't 'hey, Kat' me you little booger!" she smacked him, shoving Elijah a bit to get some seat space next to Jeremy.

Kol snorted a laugh.

Elijah just looked at her, shocked by the way she manhandled him and then ignored him, not even bothering to spare him a glance.

"You missed the funeral! How could you? I was halfway to Istanbul when I heard and I still made it."

"What funeral?" Jeremy asked.

"Oh my god, Jere, where have you been? We left messages. How do you not know?"

"I'm going to check on the lady, perhaps Elijah, you could clear a few things up before we get back?" Klaus said, getting up from the table.

Elijah and Klaus shared a knowing look that didn't require any more words. She knew Jeremy, so she knew Caroline. Klaus would go make sure she didn't come back to the table before the others came up with a cover story.

Katherine looked up and finally noticed the other men at the table.

"Oh hi, uh. I'm Katherine, Jere's sister."

"Kol Mikaelson." Kol said, wiggling his eyebrows at her. "It's a pleasure to meet you darling." He reached for her hand and tried to kiss it before she yanked it away.

"Dude, I'm right here." Jeremy said.

"Uhh..." Katherine muttered, wrinkling her nose at Kol.

"I apologize for my brother's lack of manners. Elijah Mikaelson. The one who got up a moment ago was Niklaus, also our brother."

"How do you guys know Jeremy? And Jere, what are you doing here?" she asked.

"Traveling for work together." Kol offered, slapping Jeremy on the back. "Stopped in my hometown to catch up with family and have a pint."

"You don't look like you're working right now, Jeremy. Can't be bothered to return a call?" Katherine challenged, swatting him on the side of the head. "And everyone says I'm the irresponsible one. Caroline Forbes died, Jere. You missed her funeral."

Jeremy looked to Kol for help, not sure how to explain this one.

"Word's not out yet? Kol asked Elijah.

Elijah shrugged. "Niklaus said it would start to spread in Mystic Falls, depending on who the mother chose to tell."

Katherine shifted a little closer to Jeremy. She felt a chill as she looked over the two brothers, obviously holding a secret. Jeremy had never mentioned them before.

"Who are these people?" she whispered.

"Just some friends."

"You have friends?" she teased.

"We work together." He conceded.

"Work where?"

"Just work, ok?"

"We charter yachts." Elijah said, jumping in to the conversation. "My family owns several ships, we all work them, taking wealthy vacationers around in style."

"How did you find Jeremy?" Katherine asked suspiciously.

"Kol met him at some batting cages, told me the boy has quite an arm. We could always use that kind of strength on deck."

Katherine nodded, seeming to buy the story. She never stayed in the same place for long, so she had plenty of odd seeming jobs over the years.

Kol and Elijah shared an invisible message, their eyes meeting to wrap up the loose ends of the story they were fabricating.

"In fact, that's how our brother Niklaus met his lovely little girlfriend." Kol said, watching as Klaus and Caroline made their way back to the table. Klaus was watching Kol for a signal that it was safe, a story had been spun.

"I didn't see a girl..." Katherine said, starting to look around.

"About that funeral, Kat." Jeremy began.

"We were chartering through the Atlantic a few weeks ago. There was this girl, she must have been on that little lifeboat for days." Kol said. "Niklaus spotted her, pulled her out on the ocean."

"I didn't even think about what people at home would be thinking." Jeremy said. "It was just such a weird coincidence, that I knew her. She said there was a plane crash, but she must have drifted away from the wreckage, we never found anything else."

Katherine's eyes grew wide, putting the pieces together.

"Caroline died in a plane crash."

"No." Jeremy said gently. "She didn't."

* * *

Klaus had ambushed Caroline outside the bathrooms, pulling her back into the hallway at the back of the pub.

"Can't let me have five minutes alone?" She joked.

"Someone's here." He said quietly.

Her face turned serious. "Who? Is it dangerous?"

"No, she's harmless I think. The Gilbert with the curly hair."

"Katherine? She's here?"

"She spotted her brother and came over to our table."

"What do I do? What do I tell her?"

"Elijah will come up with something. Just listen for his cues and follow along."

"I can't lie to her! She's my friend."

"She'll find out the truth soon enough from one side or the other. For now, let's just try to not give her a heart attack?"

* * *

Caroline and Klaus walked back to the table. Katherine saw them approaching and got up, climbing over Elijah again. She ran up to Caroline, tearing her hand apart from Klaus and knocking her back on the floor.

Klaus tensed up, ready to tear her off Caroline and maim her for assaulting his lady, but he heard laughter. Caroline was laughing.

Katherine and Caroline were causing a bit of a scene, laughing and hugging on the floor of the pub. He looked around, uneasy with the attention as he stood next to the girls everyone was staring at.

Finally, Caroline got up and pulled Katherine up with her.

"Oh, hi." Katherine said to him, barely sparing a glance before turning back to Caroline.

"Back from the dead! You have no idea how much I missed you. Tell me everything."

Caroline and Katherine walked back to the booth, and Elijah jumped out of the way before Katherine could accost him again. He stayed tense as Katherine scooted next to him, flipping her hair against his shoulder, completely ignoring him as she whispered and laughed with Caroline.

Klaus sunk into the booth across from the girls and scowled. He had intended to just spend a few minutes with his brothers and Jeremy, mostly for her benefit. She wanted to see the Gilbert boy again. Then the plan was to go back to his flat, where they could finally be alone.

Now he was stuck waiting. Waiting and watching Elijah pretend he wasn't looking at Katherine every chance he got.

He didn't see the appeal. The Gilbert girl was rude. She shoved her way through them, hardly even bothering to say hello. She chewed out her brother and treated Elijah like an inanimate object and now she was hogging Caroline. He didn't care much for her at all, but Caroline was laughing and reminiscing about good times they shared and it was nice to watch, even if she had seemed to forget entirely about him. Apparently her and this Gilbert girl had a few fights in high school but had since become friends. They rehashed memories of parties and birthdays and road trips. He wondered if Caroline would ever smile so much recalling memories of times with him.

"I love this song!" Katherine shouted, pulling Caroline from the booth.

He watched, feeling unusually helpless as Caroline shot him an apologetic look when Katherine pulled her away, towards the dance floor.

He watched the girls laugh and dance together, shouting out the lyrics to each other as they swayed to the music.

_You wanted her to have fun. Don't get all pouty just because it isn't with you. You're not fun anyway. You're good at the family business, other than that you're nothing. _

He tried to join in the conversation with the others, but Kol and Jeremy were joking around, throwing pop culture references he didn't quite get. Who had time to watch all the movies and TV shows those two could quote incessantly to each other? He turned to Elijah for some company, but his brother was watching the girls.

"Be a little creepier." Klaus muttered.

"I was just looking for our waiter." Elijah insisted.

"Sure." Klaus muttered.

A man came up behind Katherine and started to dance with her. Elijahs's grip on his drink tightened, his lips pursing to a hard line.

Jeremy glanced over and saw his sister on the dance floor.

"Oh, gross. I'm out." He mumbled, sliding out of the booth.

"Back to the outpost." Kol smiled. "I left Hayley in charge, so let's see if the place is still standing when we get back."

Klaus watched as Katherine shoved the man away and walked over to hug Jeremy goodbye. He smirked as Kol went in to hug her also, and she cautiously allowed it until his hand slid a little too far and she stepped hard on his foot with a spike heel.

Caroline tugged on Katherine to go back to the table, and Katherine reluctantly followed, not too eager to stop dancing.

"That guy's your boyfriend? I guess Tyler's over?" Katherine whispered as they walked back.

"Not my boyfriend. And yes. Tyler's ancient history. He was cheating almost the whole time." Caroline said.

"That explains why he skipped your funeral."

"I didn't mean for people to think I was dead. My mom knows I'm alive now. She'll tell people when she's ready."

"I still can't believe you're alive."

The girls got back to the booth, where the two brothers were quietly discussing something.

"We were going to stop at Elijah's flat for a bit." Klaus said to Caroline, "Would that be alright? Your friend should join us."

Caroline looked to Katherine, who nodded that she would be ok with that.

"What happened to five minutes and we're off to your flat?" Caroline whispered to Klaus.

"You were having fun." he said

"And Elijah's ok with Katherine coming with us to his place?"

"It was his idea."

Caroline shot a look over at Elijah, who was trying very hard not to look at Katherine and failing miserably.

"Ohhhh." She nodded.

"Does he have a chance?" Klaus asked.

"Katherine's kind of a wild card. Your guess is as good as mine."

* * *

"No. You do not have this." Katherine grinned, running up to the foosball table sitting in Elijah's living room.

"You're right. I don't. It's a mirage."

"No, I meant. you seem kind of stuffy and proper. I didn't think your apartment would look like this."

"Stuffy and proper?"

"You wore a suit to a bar." Katherine said. "The other guys were in jeans."

"So now it's a crime to look presentable?" Elijah said, enjoying the banter.

"The tie is a little much." she said, walking over to him. "It's going to have to go."

He stood still, letting his eyes drag across her body as she reached up and loosened the tie and slid it off his neck.

She handed it to him and he carefully put it down on a table.

"I can beat you." she said, motioning to the foosball table.

"Aren't we confident." Elijah joked.

Katherine smiled and scurried back over to the table.

"I think that's our cue to go." Klaus whispered in Caroline's ear.

She nodded and walked over to Katherine, hugging her goodbye.

"We're heading out. Have fun. I don't have a phone here, but call Jere and he'll help you find me if you're staying in town. Or ask Elijah."

"He's not an ax murderer is he? Because you're leaving me alone with him, and we both know I can be a little reckless when it comes to men."

"Not an ax murderer. Bye, Kat."

"Bye Care."

* * *

Klaus had called a cab to take them across town to his flat. She followed as he took her hand and led her down the steps to the street and held the door open, sliding in after her.

He gave the driver his address and then he turned to look at her.

She swallowed, feeling her heart beating faster already. They were going to his place. She knew what that meant. She knew what they were going to do.

His lips grazed across her cheek, she smiled when she felt it, felt his arm tighten around her.

_Yes, this is exactly what I want,_ she thought.

She turned towards him slowly, breathing him in, allowing herself to get used to the idea. She was all in.

Her lips found his and she kissed him urgently, again and again, grabbing onto the collar of his shirt to hold him close. His arms moved around her, shifting her against the seat. She swore she could feel him smiling as he kissed her. She pulled back to catch her breath and he was smiling back at her.

She went in for more, kissing him again, letting herself get lost in it. Her head was spinning. She held on to him to keep from falling over.

There was a noise, someone clearing their throat.

She reluctantly broke away from him. The cab had pulled up in front of an apartment building. He handed the driver some money and he was leading her out.

The lobby and elevator were blurs in her mind. It wasn't until they were in the hall and he was unlocking the door that she felt herself get nervous.

He opened the door and she stepped into the darkness.

* * *

**The next chapter will pick up right where we leave off here, and fair warning, there will be smut. **


	14. Chapter 14

Caroline stepped into the apartment, not exactly sure what she expected to find. She heard him step in behind her, close the door and flick on the light.

It was clean, a little sparse, nothing very fancy. A lot of black and stainless steel.

"Looking for the torture chamber?" he said, wrapping his arms around her from behind.

"Would that be in the other room?"

"I'll give you the tour." He said taking her hand.

She appreciated the momentary chance to breathe, to make sure she really wanted to do what they were about to do. She could find a way to back out, stall, feign sleepiness. But she didn't want to. So instead she followed him through the apartment, listening to him point things out, trying to ignore the nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Kitchen over here." He pointed. "Bedroom, uh, extra bedroom over there, sometimes Bekah or Kol stay over because they don't keep places in this city."

She peeked in each room. The first one he pointed to was obviously his, it was full of little knick-knacks from his travels, an antique sword hanging on the wall, some wooden carvings, stacks of books, a few shirts hanging over a chair. The second bedroom looked more bare, with just the basics for when siblings crashed there.

"And this one?" Caroline asked, touching a closed door.

"Closet."

She paused at the door and he pulled her away.

"Bathroom over here, there's a little patio out back."

They completed their lap around the apartment and ended up back where they started.

"So, here we are..." she began awkwardly.

"Here we are." he nodded. "Can I get you anything? A drink? Are you hungry?"

"I'm fine." She said, shifting in place.

She tried to keep her face calm, not look him in the eye too much or he'd see right through it. She was getting more and more nervous with every minute.

All those times where they almost did, she couldn't think about anything other than how much she wanted to. But now, knowing it was going to happen, she was getting freaked out. What if something went wrong? What if it was weird? What if she started to panic like the first time with Tyler? She had to ask him to stop and ended up hyperventilating in the bathroom. It was a disaster. It took months before she was able to actually enjoy it without having flashbacks of Damon, having unexpected things trigger complete meltdowns. She couldn't stand the thought of it happening again.

He was studying her face, waiting for a sign.

He must have found it because he was backing away, giving her space.

"We don't have to-" he started.

She took a deep breath as he started to speak, knowing he was giving her an out, knowing she could just fall asleep next to him like all the other nights before. They didn't have to do anything. But she wanted to.

She walked briskly over to him and cut him off before he could finish his sentence, crashing her lips into his.

He stumbled back, always expecting the opposite from her.

She broke away and looked up at him. He looked back, his pupils dilating as he scanned over her, taking in how she was looking at him.

He pulled her back in, starting soft and careful, letting her set the pace. She pushed for more, kissing back with bruising force, taking his bottom lip between hers and gently biting down.

It sent a shudder down his spine and his hands pressed harder into her lower back. He took a few steps backwards, pulling her with him until his legs hit the couch. He sat back and pulled her down with him, making her lose her balance and hold on to him to keep from falling.

She braced herself, holding on to him by the shoulders as he moved her legs around his, pulling her down around him. Open mouth kisses turned to gasps and ragged breathing as hands slid across clothed bodies. His fist knotted in her hair at the back of her neck, causing her to break away from their kiss as he pulled down, exposing her neck.

He dragged his mouth down her neck, kissing and sucking on delicate skin. Little noises she didn't have any control over tumbled from her lips as her back arched and her eyes fluttered shut.

She could feel his hands drag down her back, loop around her waist and find the hem of her shirt. He was going painfully slow, taking his time, feeling every inch of skin as he worked his way up, the fabric bunching around his wrists as his fingers traced along her sides, grazing over the lace of her bra, making her jerk forward to push herself closer to his hands, and then he was pulling it over her head, his mouth only leaving her skin for a moment before finding new territory, moving across her chest and shoulder.

She didn't share his patience, so she tugged on the hem of his shirt, making him shift away from the back of the couch so she could pull in over his head and rake her fingers up and down the hard planes of his chest. The tattoo on the side of his ribs caught her eye, the one she hadn't seen since they were on the island, in the caves. The latin script that said something about blood and family. She traced her fingers along it, distracted by the markings he chose, that one, the tattoo on his arm of a wolf. Then there were all the marks that were there because of Mikael. The scars that crossed his back in thick raised lines and snaked over his front occasionally.

She touched the scar that curved across his back and over his collarbone.

He caught her by the back of her thighs and lifted as he stood up, pulling her up in his arms as he moved off the couch and walked to the bedroom. Once they were there, he slid her off and moved to kiss her, but she stepped back.

She put her hand out to his chest indicating she wanted him to stay still. At arm's length, she moved around until she was standing behind him.

He stayed still, uncharacteristically nervous about whatever she was doing. Good assassins always keep their backs to the wall, always keep their target in their eye line. Letting someone walk behind you left you vulnerable. A lifetime of training taught him not to ever leave his back exposed.

He could feel her hands tracing across his back as she stood behind him. He wanted to turn around and started to shift to the side, but she moved her hands around his waist. She was hugging him, her face pressed into his back. His heart was pounding as he felt her lips trace scars, kissing every line the crossed his back while her fingers made tiny circles across his chest. It was the most terrifyingly intimate moment he could have imagined. He was only too thankful she couldn't see his face, because he was sure if she did, she would know he was falling in love. Frighteningly inconvenient, consuming love. The type of thing he was convinced was only for fools. The thing he needed to push away because he couldn't let himself have it for risk that it would break him.

He could feel her warm mouth move across his back. Her hands slowly moved around, trailing through the scars as she kissed them. It was like she was trying to take away all the pain. It was something unexpected, new.

When he was certain she was done and he could feel her rest the side of her face against his back he slowly turned around, holding her face between his hands and taking only a fraction of a second to look at the miracle she was before letting his eyes shut as he met his lips to hers again. And again. And with more force. And with urgency as his hands moved over her body, traced the lace edge of her bra, fumbled over the button of her jeans because kissing wasn't enough. He needed so much more.

Caroline was unsure what the look he gave her meant. It was loaded with something that hit her straight in the heart. He was always giving her those looks, those intense looks, but this one was even more. Her mind was spinning in a million directions as she got lost in kissing him, feeling his hands everywhere. Then they were tugging at the zipper of her pants and sliding them down her legs.

She let out a sharp gasp as his hand moved down, cupping her burning core over her underwear, then letting his middle finger push down with a little more pressure, dragging up and down the fabric. Her hand on his arm gripped on tighter and she kissed him harder as he continued to wind her up.

She couldn't wait any longer, every touch was driving her crazy, if he kept doing what he was doing, she wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. The twisting heat was starting to coil through her body, every touch bringing her closer.

She reached for him, her hand sliding across the front of his pants before zeroing in on his zipper. He twitched forward as her hand moved against him and she sucked in her breath, feeling just how hard and thick he was.

She tore at the waistband of his pants, looping her fingers through the elastic of his underwear so she could yank both off of him at once.

Her hand found him and moved up and down, exploring his length.

His eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened, and for a moment he forgot his own name or where he was.

Desperately trying to get ahold of himself, he moved her hands away and pushed her back against the bed. When her back hit it, he picked her up by the waist and sat her down on it, standing in front of her. Her bra was off in an instant and his mouth was trailing down one breast while his hand caressed the other, before switching sides.

She hummed in delight and leaned into him. His mouth stayed on her chest, nipping the top of her breast, licking down, taking a nipple in his mouth. His hands were moving down, and he was pushing her down on the bed as they dragged their way down to the waistband of her underwear. Then his had his thumbs hooked over the edge and he was pulling them slowly down. His hand found her exposed core and brushed gently against it, taunting her with light touches as she whimpered for more.

He was over her, his hand sliding down her leg and pulling it around his side. She moved the other leg around him and let her foot slide up and down the back of his leg.

He looked to her as his length brushed against her leg.

"Yes. Now." she whispered.

He slowly moved into her, watching her eyes as he did it. They went wide and her mouth hung open. She was holding on to him so tight. He pulled back and rolled his hips into her and she dug her nails into his shoulder so hard he was sure she had broken skin.

Trying to tease her, trying to keep himself from going over the edge too soon, he moved at a deliberately slow pace. He was doing his best to think about anything other than how she felt, how she moved her hips up against his just right, how her skin smelled as he buried his face in her neck.

She tossed her head to the side a little as he moved over her, his forehead leaning against hers, their eyes meeting. Everything was more than she was ready for. It was intense, both in the physicality and in the feelings she didn't expect, the way he was looking at her, the way this seemed to act as confirmation that she was making the right choice.

She tried to tilt her head up to kiss him, but there was a sharp pain at the back of her scalp.

"Ouch." She yelped, her brow scrunching.

He flinched back and froze, panic flooding his body.

She looked over his expression and realized she wasn't the only one who was worried about this triggering a bad memory for her.

"Oh no, you're ok, just uh, your arm is on my hair."

He exhaled with a smile, relieved that what he was afraid of happening hadn't happened, and he moved his arm from where it had trapped a lock of her hair. His hand traced along the side of her head as he checked her over, making sure she was ok.

"Are you sure this is..." he trailed off, still concerned about triggering panic or painful memories of what had happened.

"Don't stop." She hummed, tilting her head up so she could kiss along the side of his neck.

He moved up and back, pulling her up in his lap. She hesitated, unsure of herself, and he moved his hands to her hips, guiding her.

They found their way back into the swirl of feelings and physical sensations that were building up within each of them. They found a pattern that worked and she couldn't stop the moans that kept coming out as he moved her hips in little circles until she followed the movement on her own as his hand slid across her body, touching her exactly where she wanted it.

She knew she was close, it was building more and more, making her shake and hold on to him harder. His eyes went dark, hungrily watching her push closer to her release.

She couldn't continue her movements against him in the blinding pleasure that kept building. It was more than she had ever experienced, it was more than she knew was possible.

He took over, using one hand to guide her body and the other to touch her, gentle circles turning rougher as she cried out louder and louder.

"Klaus. Please." she begged him, digging her nails into his skin.

He tried to respond, but he was getting so close that he couldn't form words.

She was starting to shake violently around him and he moved his hips up faster to slam into her with more force as he continued moving his hand against her, watching her face, making sure she was looking at him, making sure she would forever remember him as the only one who could do this to her, the only one who could make her feel this.

With the next deep stroke, she let out a sharp cry and he felt the heat rush through her body as she clenched down hard around him and she looked at him with an expression that was equal measures shock and pleasure.

He continued his movements as she rode out the waves that followed and before she managed to come all the way down, he finally allowed himself to let go. As she still fluttered and pulsed around him, he followed the intoxicating feeling and pulled her close as the jolt shot through him, causing him to let out a low noise that didn't seem human as the world around them disappeared, and then it faded away. He collapsed against her, spent.

For several minutes they stayed tangled together, not saying anything. He could hear her breathing gradually go back to normal as she stayed pressed against him. A chill ran across his skin, still covered in a sheen of sweat, and he loosened his arms from their locked position around her back. He moved his heavy head from her shoulder and in response she lifted hers from his. He wondered if he should apologize for holding on to her so tight, not allowing her to move away when they were done, and instead keeping an iron grip on her like a complete crazy person. She gave him a tired smile. Maybe she didn't mind. He didn't know how these things were supposed to work. Usually he couldn't get away from women fast enough after it was over, but all he wanted was to keep her skin against his.

He pulled back the sheets they had left crumpled and pulled her in with him, holding her close. Her tired eyes met his and he kissed her forehead, then pulled her in closer. They didn't say anything, instead they just curled against each other in their sleepy haze. He could feel her breath against his chest grow even and slow as she quickly fell asleep. Before long, he was asleep as well.

* * *

Klaus kept forgetting to invest in darker curtains. The light always ended up waking him up earlier than he would like. He could feel the daylight before he even opened his eyes. Stretching a bit, he smiled and let that night replay in his mind. He reached over to pull her back, but all he felt were cold sheets. Opening his eyes, he looked around the room. She wasn't there.

Panic set in as he remembered a conversation he had with Alaric the day before when Caroline was off in the yard with Henrik. The Mikaelson family tutor expressed his concerns about letting Caroline back into the world, even allowing her to spend time around Jeremy. He was convinced that she wasn't 'in' enough to be trusted. That fear would outweigh any positive feelings she had for Klaus.

"She's going to run. You know that, right?" Alaric had said.

Klaus had insisted she wouldn't. Run where? To who? It wasn't even possible. She didn't have money, a passport, any form of ID. She wouldn't get very far.

But it had stuck it's way in, as much as he tried to brush it away. He could assure himself that she wasn't in any position to run away. But that didn't mean it wasn't what she wanted. She could have just been playing nice out of self preservation, waiting for her chance to run. Why would she want to stay? Why would she want to stay with _him_?

But last night... she couldn't have been faking that. It was real. It was something entirely different from the casual flings he was so used to. It was so different from the arraigned courtship he sulked through with Tatia. It was real. It had to be.

He scrambled out of the bed and pulled on some pants that were crumpled on the floor. He rushed through the apartment, his heart dropping lower with each room she wasn't in. She couldn't have run. Not after the way she looked at him.

The open refrigerator in the kitchen caught his eye.

He moved closer and found her sitting on the floor in front of it, wearing one of his shirts.

He smiled, relieved that she didn't leave. She also didn't seem to hear him enter the room. She continued rifling through the fridge, taking items out and setting them on the floor. Of course, everything would have gone bad. He hadn't been here for weeks. Had it been just a few weeks? A month? It was strange to imagine that the last time he had been here, he had never even met her.

She leaned forward to pull something out from the back of the fridge, confirming his suspicion that there was nothing under that shirt. He stayed very still, silently begging her to reach forward again.

He creeped closer, moving in silence as he tried not to laugh at the annoyed noises she made as she sniffed each food item and confirmed it had expired.

He kept inching closer until he was standing over her. She was still too distracted to notice.

He reached down and grabbed her around the waist, pulling her back from the fridge.

She screamed, throwing a carton of eggs at him.

He let her down and held his stomach as leaned forward to laugh. Egg dripped off the side of his face.

"You scared me!" She said, shoving him.

"Your reflexes are terrible." He smirked. "We're going to have to work on that."

"I was going to surprise you by making breakfast." she said, pouting as she looked around at the food she pulled out of the fridge. "But everything's expired."

"No, no. I'm the one who should be making you breakfast." He said, pulling her into a hug. "I'll take you out instead. I know a good place."

"That's going to require pants." she sighed.

"Going out in public usually does." He agreed, playing with the hem of the shirt. His fingers moved just a little past the edge, moving lightly up and down the curve of her backside.

"But we could come back here after?" She asked. "Maybe stop for some groceries so we won't have to leave the apartment again for the rest of the day?"

"I thought you'd like to see the city." He said. "You've been trapped in the house for so long, deprived of human interaction besides me and my family. I thought perhaps you'd want to go shopping and sightseeing."

"As good as that sounds, I'd rather just have one day alone with you before we have to face the world again."

"And how would we ever find a way to pass the time?" He teased.

"I can think of a few ideas." she said.

She kissed him quickly and sauntered off to go find some pants. He watched her walk across his flat and smiled. It all felt so natural. Waking up to find her there, going out to breakfast. These were things he would have teased Bekah for enjoying, but now he was starting to understand the appeal.

* * *

When Caroline went into the other room to get ready, he picked up his phone and moved to a corner of the apartment where he couldn't be heard.

"Are you still in the area?" He asked, not bothering with greetings.

"Nice to hear from you too. Yes, we've got the whole team out by the docks." Kol answered.

"Good. How's the Gilbert boy with explosives?" Klaus asked.

"Much better than the Lockwood boy, but not as good as me." Kol responded.

"That'll have to do. Send him home with some equipment. I want him to rig up Damon Salvatore's car."

"You don't even want to be there to watch him die?" Kol scoffed. "You're getting soft."

"I don't want him to die so easily. I want the Gilbert boy to trigger the explosive when Salvatore's in view of the car, but not close enough to be killed. It would be preferable if he got hit by a bit of shrapnel, remind him what pain feels like. Just a reminder that I haven't forgotten about him."

"That's ... dark."

"Can it be done?"

"Yeah of course, he'll be there by tomorrow. Any other ways you want Salvatore crapping his pants while we're in there?"

"I'll let you know if I think of it. Just tell Gilbert to be aware of his surroundings, see if he can get any new information on the younger Salvatore. I want to know what Stefan knows about his brother."

"Hey, you sound less angry than usual. I guess that pretty little blonde is giving you a reason to be cheerful?"

"Just let me know when the bomb's ready."

"Any chance she has a sister for me?"

"Goodbye, Kol."

* * *

Caroline looked around the place he had made such a fuss over. It looked like a greasy little hole in the wall, but he had insisted on traveling halfway across the city to go to this specific place. It was in the same part of the city they were in the night before, when they had gone to that pub and to Elijah's. She wondered how Katherine was doing, if she ended up spending the night with Elijah or is she snuck back to whatever hosel she was staying in.

She was a little taken aback when he ordered for both of them, but she didn't know what to get here and he seemed excited about her trying this place that was so special to him. He had spent the ride over explaining how they used to come here with their mother when Mikael was away on business. He talked about how Elijah picked his flat based on it being within walking distance of this place and of how Esther would always sneak each of them away to come here on their birthdays as children.

"It doesn't look like much, but it's the best breakfast in town." he assured her.

"I bet you take all the girls here." She teased.

"I don't take girls out to-" he started, but stopped himself.

"Oh right." She mumbled. "Your sister filled me in on how this works, I remember."

"You can't get mad at me for that. It was before you. This isn't like that."

"You were mad about Tyler. You knocked him off a boat and ordered him away before I even got a chance to talk to him."

"I was mad at him, not you. He treated you poorly, I wasn't about to just let that go."

"And did you ever think that maybe I could have handled it myself?"

"Believe me, sweetheart, I enjoyed handling it for you."

She scoffed at him and went back to picking at her food.

He wanted to go break things. This was supposed to be nice. Now she was annoyed all because of his stupid sister's big mouth. Like Caroline needed another reason not to trust him.

They had begun this conversation once before, and it didn't exactly go over well. She knew he had a long list of one night stands, and that he wasn't exactly the type to cuddle or go out for breakfast. They had spent the entire night doing the former and were now doing the latter. She had to know she was different, that this wasn't just a fling to him, but he didn't want to be the one to say so. Saying it out loud meant admitting he felt something, admitting a weakness.

On top of that, Alaric's words were haunting him. _She's going to run_. He thought back to the conversation, about how he tried to explain it.

"You chose her." Alaric said. "Not the other way around."

It was the most simple way to explain it.

Yes.

He chose her.

He saw her, knew the plane was going down. Impulse. He had to have her. He chose her.

He got her alone. He tried to charm or play his way into her pants, and she brushed him off. None of the usual stuff worked, and that only made him want her more.

He got to know more about her. He started to care. Something about her was worth protecting. He picked her as the one he would take a chance on. He would allow himself to feel.

He kept feeling more and being more sure of his choice.

But it was never her choice. She didn't choose him. Alaric had reminded him of that.

She was put in a situation where she was alone with him and had to survive. She was dragged around, and dumped off at his family's home. She was isolated and cornered. So she played along. But she never chose him.

But what was last night? She kissed his scars, looked into his eyes, connected with him in a way that was very different from what he was used to. But he still held doubts.

He tried to hide the doubt as he looked over at her, hoping she would like the food. She was an American, they probably liked different things, maybe she would hate it here. Maybe she hated everything about this place.

She was picking at it, and finally sighed and put her fork down.

"You hate it here." He said quietly. He wasn't sure if he meant _here_ as the restaurant where they sat or the more abstract _here_ as in _here with me_.

She looked at him, frustrated.

"No. It's really good. I just cant eat. We're fighting."

"We're not-"

"You're being weird." She protested. "You keep acting like you want to say something but you don't. You're looking at me all weird. And I'm thinking about how all you ever do is sleep with random girls and send them away, and that the only reason why you were interested in me was because we didn't right away and now we did and I'm just waiting for you to disappear or tell me to go away and I don't-"

He laughed, earning an furious, indignant look from her. He couldn't help it. She was so adorable when she was all flustered and she couldn't be further from the truth. He had spent the entire morning trying to not touch her every single second. Willing himself to not lock his arms around her and never let her move away. He had been trying to not look like some pathetic clingy creature who was endlessly consumed by thoughts of her skin against his.

"I don't see what's so funny about this." she snapped. "You've hardly said anything all morning and all I can think about it if now that we... you know, uh, well, you know last night, now that we did that, you're bored and I must have made a huge mistake and I always do stuff like this, reading into everything too much and I get it in my head that it means something, but now you're looking at me weird and you're not talking and I can't eat because it's making my stomach twist into knots because I don't know what else to do and can you just get it over with if you're going to tell me to leave?"

She was twisting her hands against each other, fidgeting on her side of the booth, waiting for him to tell her 'this has been fun but...'

He was still trying to hold back his smirk. He tucked his lips in and tried to keep from laughing. He really tried. But it was absurd, the levels her neurosis went to. She really thought it was all just a game to him. It seemed inpossible that such a sublime beauty could possibly be so insecure.

"I'm so glad this is amusing to you." she said "Fine. You win. You got what you wanted. I guess I'll just - What are you doing?"

He got up from his side of the booth and shoved into hers to keep her from walking out. It was a bit tight for both of them on one side. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and leaned close, whispering in her ear.

"What I want, sweetheart, is to take you back to my flat and keep you there until we run out of food. And even then, there's always delivery. I have only just begun to get what I want when it comes to you, do you understand?"

She opened her mouth to protest, but he kissed her, muffling whatever she was about to say. He kissed her again, then peppered a trail of kisses across her cheek and over to her ear.

"People are looking." She giggled.

"Good. They'll know you're mine." He hummed as he kissed along the back of her ear and down her neck.

She shivered at the possessive tone he used. He was marking her, making it clear to anyone who glanced their way that she was his. She gently pushed him away, turning red from all the eyes she felt on her. This was a family place, and if she let him keep doing what he was doing, she couldn't be held responsible for the noises she would end up making.

He was content with his work, seeing how flustered she was, but that she didn't seem to have her earlier preoccupation with the preposterous notion that she had about him being done with her now. Still, he stayed on her side of the booth, keeping an arm around her, in case anyone was unclear of their situation. His body language screamed _mine mine mine, all mine and I don't share_.

"You're not bored now?" She asked.

"Quite the opposite." He replied.

"Promise?"

"Just let me get the check and we'll go back to the flat so I can show you just how not bored I am."

He grabbed her fork and took a bite of her food.

"Hey!" She protested.

"What? I thought you didn't feel like eating."

"I changed my mind. Give me that fork."


	15. Chapter 15

**Wow! I can't believe this story has over a thousand reviews! This is crazy! Think you so so much for writing them and for reading this story. I read every single review and every one makes me so happy. I don't always get a chance to respond to reviews that pose questions or concerns, but if you private message me, I'll always respond. **

**Again, thank you all so so much for continuing to read this story. **

* * *

Klaus stepped in front of Caroline to hail a taxi back to his flat. She wanted to roll her eyes at the way he always stood between her and the street, as if a car might hop a curb and squash her. If it was anyone else she would find the overprotective gestures smothering, but from him it was endearing.

She felt giddy with that new relationship glow. Well, she wasn't sure if it was a relationship really, but it was something like that.

"So just a quick stop at the grocery, then back to the flat." he said, searching for a taxi on the street in front of them.

Caroline curled herself against him and smiled, looking forward to the day ahead of them, how she had him all to herself.

A familiar face was walking down the street towards them, although he looked a bit unlike himself. His usually clean shaven face was scruffy, his hair was mussed and sticking up at odd angles, and he looked dazed and giddy.

Caroline nudged Klaus.

"Is that...?"

"Elijah." he finished. Klaus took a step away from the road and cleared his throat. "Elijah." he shouted out.

His brother's head turned in their direction and he nodded as he approached them.

"Niklaus. Caroline." Elijah greeted them, smoothing down his hair.

"You look like a tornado hit you." Klaus commented.

Elijah nodded, looked down and blushed a bit.

"I uh, I was just picking up some breakfast to bring back home."

"Katherine?" Klaus asked.

"Still asleep." Elijah said sheepishly. " I thought breakfast, maybe..."

"He thought breakfast." Klaus said to Caroline, exchanging a knowing look with her.

"She likes bacon." Caroline offered. "And coffee. She drinks more coffee than anyone I know."

Elijah smiled in appreciation.

"She probably also likes stealing all your belongings now that you've left her alone in your flat. That or running away from your ugly mug." Klaus teased.

Elijah's face fell.

"Stop." Caroline said, playfully shoving Klaus. "Elijah, I'm sure she's still asleep. Maybe we can all meet up later?"

"What about the staying in the flat?" Klaus protested.

"I'll ask her if she would like that, I'm sure she would." Elijah agreed with Caroline, ignoring his brother.

"But. Staying in the flat." Klaus protested to Caroline.

"I should go." Elijah said, checking his watch. "I don't want her to wake up and wonder where I went."

Elijah hurried away and Klaus waved down a cab. They slid in the back seat and gave the directions to a grocery store near where Klaus lived.

"Don't pout, it'll give you wrinkles." Caroline teased.

"I don't want to go out with Elijah and Katherine, I just want to stay in with you."

"We'll go and say hi for a little, then back to more time alone. I never get to see people from my old life anymore. Katherine was never my best friend, but I can't go home, and she's here. It's nice."

"I don't like her." Klaus huffed. "She's loud and rude and most importantly, she's keeping me from getting time alone with you."

"You have all the time you want with me. I'm not going anywhere." Caroline protested.

He scowled, unwilling to believe her.

"Please." She said, moving closer to him on the back seat of the cab.

"Fine, but make them wait until tomorrow." he grumbled. "At least give me one day before I have to share you with the rest of the world."

"Tomorrow." she agreed.

* * *

Matt unlocked the door to his apartment, ready to collapse. It had been a long day at work. When he opened the door, the place looked different. For a second he thought he had somehow walked into someone else's home.

The television in the living room was three times the size it was that morning, sitting on a real table instead of a milk crate, and the old couch had been replaced by a new one. Actual curtains hung from the windows instead of the sheets that he had stapled over the windows when he moved in.

He looked to the kitchen area and saw the back of her head, long pin straight blonde hair tied up in a ponytail as she stirred something in one of the many pots and pans he didn't buy.

Stacks of groceries littered the kitchen counter.

She turned around and smiled at him.

"Surprise. I made dinner."

"That's not all you did."

"Don't be mad." she pouted.

"I don't want you spending money on me." he protested

"I didn't. It's all floor model stuff a friend of a friend needed to get rid of so their store could put up the new ones." she lied.

"I never know when you're coming back." he said, moving into the kitchen to peek at what she was making.

"It's more fun that way." she smiled, returning to her cooking.

He had began to ask Bonnie repeatedly to confirm that she did see a girl sitting with him the one time she came over to drop off food. Other than that, he was convinced she was just in his mind. She had acted so weird that time outside the Forbes house, never giving him a real explanation. Then he fell asleep next to her on the couch and woke up alone. She would flit in and out, somehow getting into his apartment without a key. She never wanted to do things in public. She never said where she was going when she wasn't with him. She was a ghost. She didn't even have a name.

Matt didn't have a lot of things to look forward to. There weren't many things that brightened his days. But now there was this girl, and she freaked him out more than a little. He was suspicious, after all she was obviously hiding a lot from him. But at the same time, she we the best part of his day.

So he learned to be ok with her coming and going as she pleased, somehow breaking into his apartment when he wasn't there to open the door for her. He learned to enjoy every minute with her, to stay awake a little longer because she probably wouldn't be there when he woke up.

She was setting the table, putting out plates and glasses and arranging everything to look pretty.

"Are you surprised?" she asked.

"Very."

She smiled at him and sat.

"I think you should stay." He said quietly. "Don't sneak out in the middle of the night. Just stay here. All the time."

She looked startled. She had thought that all the slipping in and out was helping her from getting too attached. She always got attached too quickly and ended up getting hurt. It had never occurred to her that he might want her around more.

"I don't know if that's a good idea." she said. "We don't know each other that well."

"No, you know me. You know everything about me. I just don't know much about you because you never tell me."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"I can't tell you."

He shook his head.

"I don't get it. I don't even know your real name." he said.

She sighed.

"Why are you like this? It's like you're afraid if I know one thing about you something bad will happen." Matt said.

"It's better for you this way." she insisted.

"Let me decide for myself what's better for me."

"Matt, I can't..."

"Just a name."

She gave him a quizzical look.

"Not even the whole thing. Just your first name."

She tapped her foot, considering her options.

"It's Rebekah."

"Rebekah." He repeated, smiling.

She smiled back at him for a moment, letting herself let go of just a little bit of control. Then Rebekah turned back to the pot of food she was cooking. She reached for a can of marinara sauce while trying to sneak another glance at Matt. Her hand brushed against the jar and tipped it on it's side.

"Oh!" Rebekah shouted, watching the jar roll across the countertop.

It was as if she was moving in slow motion, watching the stupid little jar roll away, somehow moving just too fast for her to catch up.

It took a final turn over the edge of the counted and cracked on the tile floor, sending shards of glass and splatters of bright red sauce everywhere.

She clapped her hands over her mouth and looked in horror at the mess she had just caused. Echos of Mikael's screams ran though her head. Growing up in a pristine mansion with parents who were obsessed with control and image had ingrained a lot of things in Rebekah. She looked at Matt, trying to form an apology, convinced he must hate her now.

"Matt, I'm so sorry."

"Are you ok?" he asked.

She blinked, not processing why he would be asking that.

He took a few careful steps across the room to her, avoiding chunks of glass.

"Here, you have bare feet." he said, taking his shoes off and motioning for her to step into them.

She looked at him, dumbfounded, and slipped her feet into his shoes, letting him pull her away from the kitchen.

She was on the couch, and he had a towel, wiping the bits of sauce off her legs.

"Are you hurt? Did any of the glass get you?" he asked, checking her for injuries.

"I just destroyed your kitchen." she said.

"Nah, you just redecorated a bit. It's fine." He shrugged. "Alright I don't see any glass on you, I think you're all clean."

"But it was supposed to be perfect!" she protested. "I had the dinner almost done and..."

"And we'll order a pizza." he shrugged.

"No, the rest is all set, I just need the sauce."

"So I'll run out for another jar." he offered.

Her eyes were trained on the kitchen, on the splatters of sauce that somehow made it all the way up to the ceiling, to the chunks of jagged glass scattered across the floor.

"It's such a mess. I made such a mess. Matt, I'm so so-"

"Don't be." he interrupted. "And it's nothing I can't fix. I'm kind of a professional mess cleaner. Why don't you go get the sauce and I'll have this all fixed by the time you get back."

She nodded and got up, looking for her own shoes.

"Promise you'll come back?" Matt said quietly.

She nodded, taking in how vulnerable he looked.

"I promise."

"Well now that I know your name, Rebekah, I guess I can trust you to keep that promise."

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay and help you clean that?"

"And risk having you cut yourself on the glass? No, leave the clean up to the pros. Here." he said, handing her his keys "Take the truck. That way you'll get back quicker."

"You're trusting me with the truck?"

"You're pretty good with the breaking and entering, so I'm sure you could hot-wire it if I didn't give you the keys. Just be careful with my baby."

"I will be." she said.

"See you in a few minutes." Matt said.

"See you in a few minutes." she agreed, walking out the door.

* * *

Rebekah sand along with the stupid love song on the radio as she made her way back to Matt's apartment from the corner store. The few items she picked up sat on the seat next to her, she had decided to get some things for dessert as well as a new jar of tomato sauce.

The truck idled at a red light and she tapped her fingers on the steering wheel as she waited.

The light turned green and she eased onto the gas pedal, but instead of going forward, the truck just whined and stayed put.

She frowned and turned the engine off, then tried to start it up again.

It kicked but didn't quite make it into gear.

She tried again.

Nothing.

Having no experience with temperamental old junkers, she wondered what people did in situations like this.

She tried one more time.

It kicked a little, gears grinding, but never getting all the way to where it needed to go. Something was stuck.

A rap at her window made her jump.

"Car trouble, miss?"

The face was familiar.

"Oh, shit." she breathed.

* * *

Liz Forbes was trying to concentrate. Her daughter was gone. There was nothing that could be done about it. Caroline had made her choice clear when they had talked over the phone. There could be no relationship as long as her daughter clung to the enemy.

But her mind kept going back to her daughter. To the way he looked at her, the way she looked back at him. There was something going on. Caroline wasn't just some hostage. She had a familiarity with the Wolf. It sent shivers up Liz's back. And the hushed words she couldn't quite make out were something important. The one word that she had heard in their muffled whispers rang through her head over and over again.

_hospital._

Liz bit her pen and tapped her fingernails on the desk.

_hospital._

She wondered if he or Caroline had been admitted to a hospital wherever they were after they pulled them from the plane crash. Had she needed medical attention? It could be a clue to where she was.

No. the Mikaelsons weren't stupid. They would take care of things like that on their own, calling in payed off doctors for house calls.

On a hunch she made her way across town to the Mystic Falls hospital with a freshly forged warrant in hand.

She slammed the paper down on the reception desk and demanded the file. The receptionist had to double and triple check with several administrators, making sure the warrant was legitimate. Releasing medical files, even those of the dead, was something that wasn't taken lightly. If doctor- patient confidentiality was breached, it would cost several people their jobs and the hospital millions.

After much deliberation, Liz was sent off with a thick file that contained the original documents, a combined file from all Caroline's doctors from birth until her assumed death. She had to sign several papers with the hospital holding her responsible for the files, but finally they let her go.

Back at her desk at the station, Liz opened the thick file. It started with immunization records, childhood checkups. She skipped ahead. A trip to the OBGYN at age 15 she had never known about, apparently Caroline had managed to get birth control pills while her mother was none the wiser. Liz shook her head. There was the time she had the flu her junior year of high school and had to stay overnight. More routine physicals, shots, nothing surprising.

Then something stopped her in her tracks. Notes in red pen written all over an account of a physical.

**Several bruises, indicative of fingers and fists on her arms and back respectively, a large welt on her stomach. Patient claims she fell while jogging. When pressed for more details, patient refused to speak. **

Liz flipped ahead. There was a bill for a hospital visit she didn't remember.

**Concussion, internal bleeding, bruising. Patient claimed she fell down stairs, but the markings don't match her story. When asked to elaborate, she could not come up with more details. Patient unwilling to admit possibility of foul play.**

Liz felt something break inside of her. Tears slowly fell down her face.

It wasn't right. It wasn't true. She would have noticed if someone was hurting her only baby. She would have know if Caroline was in the hospital. She would have been there. How had Caroline even paid for the visit?

A bill stapled to the account of the visit showed a master card belonging to D. Salvatore was used.

Liz flipped back to the previous entry. Both were from when Caroline was dating Damon. He was at the hospital with her if he paid for the visit. He knew someone was hurting Caroline and he didn't stop it? He hadn't told her?

She flipped through and found another account. She remembered this trip to the hospital. Caroline had fallen getting out of the shower at the Salvatore house and sprained her ankle.

**Patient shows signs of abuse. Bruising in areas normally covered by clothing. Her reaction to exam indicated fear of being touched. Sexual abuse suspected, but patient refused pelvic exam or to discuss possibility of abuse. Unwilling to file police report or change her story even after it was pointed out that her injuries could not possibly come from the accident she described. **

Liz shook her head as she read it. It couldn't be. It couldn't be him. There had to be some other explanation.

A handwritten note on yellow paper was stuck between the pages. There were scribbles of possible legal loopholes for finding a way to press charges against an attacker without Caroline's cooperation. All of them were crossed out. Whoever was trying to help her had run out of possibilities. At the bottom of the page in big bold letters were a few words that remained unblocked._ Suspected abuser: Damon Salvatore, boyfriend_.

With shaking hands Liz flipped the page and was relieved to find the next entry was from an exam a few months after Caroline and Damon had broken up. There was no more of it.

It was notes from an OBGYN exam, with the same red pen annotations that all the other bad entries had.

**Patient extremely uncomfortable and frightened throughout exam, despite constant stops and reassurance. Patient has never expressed discomfort in previous exams with me. There is no doubt in my mind that the patient has suffered sexual trauma and physical abuse. Faint scar tissue patterns suggests patient is a rape surviver, most likely several attacks over the course of a year. Patient unwilling to discuss this or entertain notion of pressing charges. **

Liz flipped through the few remaining pages and closed the file. Her hands were shaking uncontrollably, her vision blurred by the tears that just wouldn't stop.

The last conversation she had with Caroline on the phone echoed through her head. All the things she blamed her for. All the times she had made comments about how she should have stayed with Damon. The passive aggressive way she would invite him over for dinner without warning Caroline. How many knives had she sunk into her own daughter's back without knowing it? How could she have been so blind?

She made it to the bathroom just in time to fall in front of the toilet and heave up her lunch.

* * *

Caroline was trying to figure out why the produce looked a bit different from the things she was used to in Mystic Falls, when she felt an arm reach up around her and someone pulled her up from behind.

She wiggled around a bit to see Klaus smirking at her as he lifted her up.

"Put me down! We're in public!"

"As you wish."

He lifted her a little higher and plopped her in the grocery cart.

"Really?" she protested.

"Your really need to work on being more aware of your surroundings. I could have been anyone."

"I'm so relieved it was you. Imagine if it was someone really dangerous." she teased him.

"Rude." he said, feigning a hurt expression. "I'll have you know I'm very dangerous."

"So I've been told."

"So you've been warned."

"And yet here I am."

"In my grocery trolley." he said.

"In the produce section." she continued.

"Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world." he mused.

"You did not just quote that movie. What are you, eighty?"

"It's a classic!"

"It's boring!" she protested.

"Casablanca is not boring!"

"It is."

"You, my dear, could do with some cultural education."

"And you're going to be the one to teach me?"

"Mmmhmm" he hummed, leaning over the side of the cart to kiss her. "I'll show you art and music. We'll go on field trips."

"Where?" she asked, smiling up at him.

He took hold of the cart and pushed her through the produce section.

"We'll start in Mexico." he suggested, adding bananas to the cart.

She raised her eyebrows.

"Kahlo." He said. "You would love her work."

"The unibrow lady?" she scoffed.

"The very talented artist who, much like you, had a rather negatively skewed sense of her own beauty and worth. She was iconic, but she couldn't see it herself."

"And we'll get tacos and margaritas?"

"We can. And we'll dance and we'll go visit the ruins of ancient civilizations and we can see jungles and beaches and cities."

She leaned back in the cart and listened to him, letting herself believe that it could be real. They really could go see the world.

He was inspecting tomatoes and handed a few to her.

"Italy?" She suggested with a smile.

"Now that's one of my favorites." He agreed. "But I only take my best students there. You'll have to work for that one."

"I'm a bit of an overachiever." she responded.

"So it would seem."

"I want to see Milan. Florence. Rome. Venice." she begged.

"Venice smells." He said, wrinkling his nose. "It's a giant swamp."

"No!" she laughed. "It does not smell. It can't."

"Yes. But I'll take you there anyway, so you can enjoy the stinky sinking city for yourself. Then we'll go back to Rome, all the best history is there."

"Will there be a test at the end of the trip?" she joked.

"There will be. And you'd do well to take notes. I won't go easy on you."

"I happen to be an A student."

"We'll see about that. But I'll give you an incentive."

"And what's that?"

"If you can ace Italy, I'll take you to France."

"France? Like Paris?"

"Paris, and then some. The Riviera, the country side, we can drink champagne in Champagne and bordeaux in Bordeaux. Versailles, The Louvre, all the dreadful tourist attractions."

"Like the Eiffel tower?"

"If we must." He sighed.

"We're going to Paris." she smiled.

He leaned down to kiss her, smiling back at her.

His phone vibrated in his pocket and he sighed, reaching for it. He glanced at it and put it back, looking out at the other shoppers around them. It would probably be fine to leave her for a few minutes.

"I have to take this, will you be ok to keep shopping until I get back? It will only be a minute."

"I'm fine." she smiled, trying to pull herself out of the cart without tipping over.

He helped her out and set her on her feet.

"No leaving the building. Pick out whatever you want, I'll be back in a moment."

* * *

Klaus dialed the number that had been trying to reach him.

"Are you set?" He asked, not bothering to introduce himself.

"Ah, yes, all ready to go, he should be approaching the car any minute." Jeremy responded.

"Good. Push the facetime button."

There was a pause and Jeremy Gilbert's face flickered in front of the screen.

"Kol tells me you're a bit of an artist." Klaus said.

"I draw sometimes."

"Good. Here's the second part of your assignment. I'm going to send you a link to a file. I want you to replicate the symbol in the image on each of those single dollar bills in the stack Kol gave you. You're going to use them to pay the people listed on the file and to buy small items in the stores I listed. Salvatore deals in a lot of cash and the bills will fall to his hands."

"What does the symbol mean?"

"Just a reminded I'm watching him. He'll understand."

Jeremy nodded.

"He's on his way." Jeremy said quietly.

"Good. You know when to detonate. Turn the phone so I can see, and as soon as the explosion occurs, hang up and clear the area. Text me the codeword once you're in a secure location."

Jeremy nodded. He knew the procedure, but he figured Klaus was the type that needed to say it, needed to be 100% sure that the plan would be followed. He didn't have the flexibility Kol had with his plans. It had to be just so.

Jeremy turned the phone around.

Klaus could see Damon Salvatore walking through a parking lot, flicking his keys across his hands.

He felt hatred boil up at how even his way of walking seemed to be smug. Everything about that man was rotten.

Damon got closer to the car and in more clear view of the phone's camera. He appeared to be whistling.

He was holding out his key, an arm's length away from the car.

It exploded in a glorious shot of flames and Damon was knocked on his back.

The camera shook, it shifted to the side as Jeremy scrambled to get up from where he was posted.

The screen was waving in every direction, blurs of the world around, catching the car, the man, a shoe, some bushes.

Jeremy held it out steady for a second, showing the wreckage. Black smoke had replaced the flames, glass littered the pavement, Damon was dusting himself off, a few small cuts and scrapes, looking confused and disoriented.

Then the camera shook again, moved in blurs, and the screen went black.

Klaus smirked, enjoying the little games for now. It was enough for today, but soon he would make another trip. While drawing it out only made it more satisfying, he looked forward to ending it once and for all.

He put his phone in his pocket, knowing he would get a confirmation text from Jeremy soon, letting him know he was out of the immediate area. With the comforting knowledge that his day was going to be a lot better than Damon Salvatore's, Klaus walked back into the grocery store.

* * *

Caroline rounded the corner, pushing the cart though the frozen section. She paused, trying to figure out what type of ice cream he would like. Did he even eat ice cream? He was taking longer than he said he would. She was almost done with the shopping, they already had all the essentials in the cart. She had added some frozen meals, figuring they wouldn't go bad as quickly as the fresh stuff. There was positively nothing edible in his fridge.

She held up two tubs of ice cream and decided to just chuck both in the cart.

"Kol said he wanted hot pockets, so just get the stupid hot pockets. They should be in this aisle."

Caroline's ears perked up at the conversation she could just barely overhear.

Kol wasn't exactly a common name.

"I just think it's gross. The guy has millions, why is he eating that crap?"

Caroline swallowed. She knew that voice. Tyler.

"I like that crap." A female voice protested. Hayley. The girl from his apartment, from the boat.

"You would eat junk like that." Tyler teased.

She could hear them laughing, the tones they used were affectionate as they teased each other.

"We didn't all grow up in the mansions of Mystic Falls." Hayley protested. "Some of us were lucky to have hot pockets on a good day."

Caroline knew they were getting closer, she could hear them rounding the corner. For a second she considered leaving the cart and running out of there. She turned, pretending to be very interested in the items in her cart, hoping they might just walk by. Not that she didn't want to give Tyler a piece of her mind, but Klaus would be back any second, and there was no way he was going to be happy about it.

"You don't have to eat them anymore. We could buy some-"

Tyler stopped right in front of her.

"Caroline?"

She looked up sheepishly.

"Tyler? What are you..." She shook her head, clearing her mind. "You know what, I don't care. You two should just keep moving, I have nothing to say to you."

"Care, just let me explain, I feel awful." Tyler protested.

"I'll give you two some time alone." Hayley muttered, walking away.

"Oh, how big of you." Caroline snapped at her. "Why don't you just go with her?" She asked Tyler.

"Can we just talk? If I could just explain, I think-." he started.

"No! If Klaus sees you..." Caroline trailed off.

"What's he going to do? Throw another temper tantrum and send me back to working with his much cooler brother?"

"Tyler! I'm mad at you but that doesn't mean I want you dead. Just go, please."

"You think he would kill me?" Tyler scoffed.

"You think he wouldn't?" She challenged.

Tyler looked her up and down.

"You're with him, aren't you? Like, this is who you are now? Some crime lord's kept woman?"

"That's actually none of your business. I don''t pretend the trash you sleep with is any of mine now that we're broken up."

"You are. You and him? Shit. Looks like I wasn't the only one lying to the good folks back at Mystic Falls."

"I never lied to anyone."

"And you got off judging me? Acting like I was the bad guy for cheating, when you were doing the same?"

"I wasn't! I didn't meet him until after things ended with us!"

"Don't lie to me Care! I saw you with him, less than a week after you saw me with Hayley. You really expect me to believe that one of the most private and careful people I've ever met just let you in that fast? That he told you all about it after knowing you a few days?"

"It's true!"

"Bullshit, Care. Last I checked, you weren't that fucking special. You expect me to believe he would risk the whole operation's security by getting cozy with some dumb blonde?"

"I'm not lying. And I don't have to justify anything to you. We're over. You don't get a say in this."

"Fine. Enjoy being murdered by that crazy asshole. You really know how to pick them."

She picked one of the tubs of ice cream out of her cart and threw it at him.

Tyler jumped out of the way and looked back at her, startled.

She was seething with anger. She reached for another thing to throw at him, but Tyler blocked her, moving into her personal space and stepping between her and her cart.

"You know, I actually felt bad for you. I felt guilty, even though I knew what I had with Hayley was something I could never have with you."

"Tyler, leave. Now." She hissed through gritted teeth.

"I thought about just ending things with you, but you were so broken, I didn't want to hurt you. I figured what you didn't know wouldn't hurt you."

"I would have found out eventually."

"Oh, I doubt that very much. You're not that smart."

"And you are? We went to high school together, I remember what your essays looked like. And my SAT scores were two hundred above yours."

"Book smart maybe. But you're really fucking stupid. I helped you get past Damon. I took care of you after that. I really thought what happened to you could happen to anyone. But now you're with someone who's just going to do the same or worse. He'll kill you this time. And it won't be just because you were unlucky or in the wrong place. It'll be because you invite it."

Caroline inched back, Tyler was getting too close. He knew not to get close to her when he was angry. Their relationship was built around her recovery, he knew it was triggering for her. He knew getting in her face when he was mad made her panic and break down. He was doing it anyway. He was doing it because it hurt.

"Tyler, step back."

"Why, going to have another meltdown? How long do you think you new boyfriend will tolerate that shit from you?"

"Stop."

"Matt and I won't be around to save you this time. This time it'll be your own fault."

A hand clapped on each of Tyler's shoulder's, dragging him away from Caroline and slamming him into a wall of freezer doors.

Klaus was over him in and instant, lifting him up again and slamming him into one of the freezer doors until it cracked.

"I told you never to speak to her again! I told you to stay out of my sight." Klaus roared, his hand on Tyler's throat.

Tyler tried to gurgle out some words but they didn't form.

"Stop!" Caroline shouted.

"I haven't even started yet." Klaus said calmly, his eyes never leaving Tyler.

A shiver went up her back. She knew this side of him existed, but never wanted to see it.

His fist connected with Tyler's face, cracking open his cheek. He grabbed him by the top of his head and slammed his hard against the wall. Tyler was struggling to fight back, but he was loosing energy.

"You shoot with your right hand, don't you?" Klaus said, more to himself than Tyler.

His hand wrapped around Tyler's left wrist.

Tyler's eyes went wide.

"No!" Caroline shouted.

Klaus wasn't hearing her. He was too focused in on the task in front of him.

She took a risk.

She moved a little closer.

Klaus stayed frozen in place, eyes locked on Tyler.

She cautiously reached out to touch him, her hand just barely grazing his back.

He flinched, unable to process her being there when he had work in front of him like this.

"Let him go," she whispered.

Something shifted in him, breaking his sole focus so he could acknowledge that she was there too. It didn't break the tension he was holding, only made it worse. Because now he still wanted to break Lockwood's bones, but she was standing right there and the thought of her possibly getting hurt by being too close to the fight only made him tense up more.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather have me break his wrist?" Klaus offered, shifting slightly away from her.

"I'm sure. Let him go."

Holding Tyler firmly by the neck, he looked to her, hoping she would change her mind.

With an exasperated sigh, he let Tyler go, giving him a bit of a shove as he did so, causing him to stumbled back.

"You have two seconds to get out of my sight before I break your neck." Klaus said.

Tyler's eyes met Caroline's for just a fraction of a second. She could read exactly what he was thinking. _This time it's your own fault. This is the monster you picked._

Then Tyler was up and running, and he was gone.

She looked at Klaus, who was still staring at the spot on the floor where Tyler was only a moment ago. His face was flushed red and every muscle was tense. His fingers were curled in slightly and his hands were shaking.

"Hey." She said softly, taking a step towards him.

He looked at her, startled, and took a few steps away from her.

"Don't do that." she said. "You're not going to hurt me."

He furrowed his brow and nodded, trying to concentrate very hard on pushing away the instinctive fury that had been coursing through his veins only a moment earlier.

She moved closer and this time he stayed still.

Her hands rested on top of his, stoping the shaking, forcing him to relax his stance. She was hugging him, and carefully he hugged back, intensely aware of the adrenaline still rushing through him, the urge to break something not completely gone. He tucked his chin over her head and stroked her hair, letting her presence melt away the rage.

"He could have been anyone." Klaus said quietly. "I only left you alone for a few minutes."

"It's ok. Everything's ok. Let's go home."

She couldn't see the way he smiled when she called it home.


	16. Chapter 16

The groceries had been abandoned. After the bloody brawl that had cracked an entire row of freezer doors, Caroline had grabbed Klaus's arm and pulled him out of the store before he could get change his mind about letting Tyler go.

"If he ever comes near you again, I'll rip his heart out." he growled.

"Yeah, I get it. You're tough. Let's go before someone calls the cops."

"I'm serious, Caroline."

She just pulled harder on his arm, dragging him out to the street. He was breathing a little heavy, his eyes glazed over with something dangerous, images crossing though his mind of ripping each of Lockwood's limbs off.

"This way?" she pointed, trying to figure how to get to his apartment.

He smiled. She made it so easy for him to snap back into the present, to push aside the murderous little thoughts. For now, at least. He swore to himself that the Lockwood boy wouldn't be so lucky if it happened again.

"You would be hopelessly lost without me." he said.

He wrapped an arm around her back and steered her in the opposite direction.

Within minutes they were in the elevator up to his place. He leaned into kiss her as the doors began to close, but at the last moment a hand darted out an another man stepped into the elevator.

Klaus bit his lip to keep himself from snapping. Could nothing go right today?

She pretended to be focused on the doors, but he felt her hand move across the edge of his pants and slip into his back pocket.

The elevator stopped and the other passenger stepped out. Caroline didn't wait until the doors had fully closed to swing around to face him, standing on her tiptoes to meet his lips.

He pulled her in closer, not letting go until the elevator made another ping and they reached his floor.

His hands were at the sides of her face, trying to kiss her and walk at the same time, bumping lightly into walls as he moved one hand to his pocket, reaching for the keys.

"So we failed at getting groceries." she said.

"We can order something." he mumbled.

The door popped open.

With a mischievous glint in his eye, he scooped her up and carried her into the apartment, earning a delighted yelp from her as she held on to him.

He kicked the door closed behind them and didn't let her down as he walked straight to the bedroom.

"I'm never letting you out of my sight again."

"Put me down!" she giggled.

"Alright." He grinned, dropping her on the bed.

She bounced up, scrambling to sit up on her knees, and she leaned forward to pull him down.

He leaned forward, letting her tug on him but not getting quite close enough.

With an aggravated huff, she crawled forward, grabbing him by the neck to kiss him.

"Someone's impatient." he smirked.

"Just shut up and take your clothes off."

He chuckled as she trailed kisses down his neck as her hands grabbed for the hem of his shirt. He swatted her hands away, wanting to prolong the whole experience, even more so with her urgent grabbing. He wanted to enjoy every minute he could get of her like this, full of desire and grabbing at him so desperately.

"Miss Forbes, are you trying to seduce me?"

"If I say yes, will you just get on with it?"

"No, I think I'll tell you that you're going to have to wake up a little earlier..." He teased. "I'm too smart to fall for your kind words and empty promises."

He was aching to get her out of those clothes, but he wanted to see what she would do if he played a little longer.

"Too smart, huh?" she murmured. "And you can't possibly be convinced?"

He liked that glint in her eye. She knew what he was doing and was gleefully playing along.

"You're welcome to try." he teased.

"Sit." she commanded.

He raised an eyebrow at her and carefully sat at the edge of the bed.

"Good. Now stay still." she ordered.

He was already liking where this was going.

She sat behind him and moved her legs on either side of him. He could feel her there but couldn't see and it was driving him crazy.

One of her hands moved under his shirt, fingertips dragging up and down his back, while the other moved to his hair, playing with the curls and weaving through before gently pulling back, forcing him to tilt his chin up.

Her lips moved along the back of his neck to the side, tracing patters with her tongue that made him shiver until she hit the spot at the side of his neck that made him groan softly.

Sitting up on her knees for better leverage, she moved her hands to his chest and repeatedly kissed the same spot on his neck, then sucked gently on it, pausing to lightly scrape her teeth along it, then sucked down harder.

His breathing was growing heavier, and she kept going, letting her hands move up and down his chest and stomach. Her hands raked over his shirt first, then looped under it, caressing his skin, each time getting a little lower as they grazed his stomach, before trailing back up.

He tilted his head, trying to kiss her, but she stopped what she was doing and moved her hands to the side of his face, prompting him to stay still.

"I'm not done convincing you yet." she hummed.

She went back to kissing his neck, moving from one side to the other, testing a few different spots before finding just the right place. She could feel his heartbeat racing as her hands scraped up and down his chest, pulling his shirt off him to get better access as her hands moved up and down.

"Stay still." she commanded.

He did as he was told.

Her hand moved up from his bellybutton and back down again, this time reaching the waistband of his pants. He watched her hand move a little closer each time. Then she paused and he heard her shifting behind him. She grabbed one of his hands and put it palm up in front of him, then put something in it. Her shirt. He gulped.

She went back to kissing his neck and moving her hand up and down. This time she just grazed across his length, causing him to lift his hips, desperate for more pressure. A string of obscenities ran through his head and he almost blurted them out as he felt just the hint of the warmth of her hand over him. _Shit fuck damn more sweetheart please bloody hell fuck you're killing me._

She did it a few more times then stopped and he felt the shifting behind him again. Then her pants were in his hand. Oh.

Her hand trailed up and down his chest a few times before dipping lower. He groaned as she moved her hand against him over his pants, and he could hear her giggling into his neck as she did it, knowing just how much she was winding him up. He vowed to do the same to her as soon as he got the chance.

She unbuttoned his pants and pulled down the zipper and he stayed perfectly still.

Then she stopped again and moved her hands away.

Shakily, he put his hand out in front of him and waited.

She handed him her bra. He could feel her breasts press against his back as she leaned forward. He swallowed hard.

Her hands slid around his front again.

He had to bite his tongue to keep from begging her.

They teased him again, trailing up and down his stomach, then she moved one hand down, under his waistband. His whole body jolted as her hand slid down, wrapping around his length, then caressing him as she pumped up and down, pausing to swirl her thumb around the tip.

"Fuck." he hissed. This time he said it out loud before he could stop himself.

"That's the idea." she hummed.

She went on for another minute and he wasn't sure how much longer he could take it, and then her hand moved away and he almost jumped off the bed to chase it.

Then she was shifting around behind him again.

Her panties were in his hand.

He was done playing around.

With one swift movement, he twisted around to face her, pinned her down, and crashed his mouth over hers. He had her naked and on her back and his hands were moving over every inch.

She tried to reach down to tug his pants off, but he was moving over her too quickly, his arms kept getting in the way of hers.

His tongue was swirling around hers, he was moving his hands over her breasts, across her stomach, down her thigh.

Then his mouth was on her neck, trailing down her chest, across her stomach.

And his head dipped a bit lower and she panicked, realizing what he was about to do.

She flinched back.

"What?" he asked, confused.

Her face was bright red.

"You were about to... uh... you don't have to."

"You don't like it? Is this a, uh, a bad memory kind of thing?" he asked carefully.

"No, I've never, no one's ever-" she started.

She inched back a little, pulling her legs together.

She could feel herself getting redder. How embarrassing. Yeah, she'd had several boyfriends over the years, and while she's gone down on them, none of them had ever reciprocated, and she would be mortified to ask. She had just figured it was something guys didn't like to do until a drunken conversation with Bonnie and Elena that made her realize, nope, lots of guys did it, it was just something guys didn't like to do with her.

He raised an eyebrow.

"I see." he said, smirking. "We're going to have to fix that."

She opened her mouth to say something, but he cut her off, kissing her gently.

"You want me to stop, just say stop, ok?"

She nodded dumbly. Oh, god, was he really still going to do it? She was both dying for him to do it and terrified. What if he was grossed out or weird about it? She had no idea what to expect.

He was carefully pushing her back so she was lying down, moving one of her ankles to his shoulder, kissing from the top of her foot down her calf, over the side of her knee, up her thigh.

She was shaking in anticipation.

He hooked her other leg over his shoulder and then she felt him getting closer.

His tongue was on her. Hot, wet, hard and soft at the same time. It was different, but good different. Really good.

She hummed in delight.

He moved in a few different directions, tracing circles and zigzags. Her leg twitched when he hit a certain spot, and she knew he noticed, because he did it again and again.

When he moved a finger inside her she gasped out his name. Then he was curling it up in a precise motion while his tongue continued it's work.

Her hands went to his hair, needing something to hold on to.

It only took a moment more before she was shattering around him, screaming out his name.

He pulled himself up to watch her in fascination as she caught her breath.

As soon as he was within reach, she tackled him with ferocious kisses.

"I'm guessing you liked?" He said when they pulled apart to catch their breath.

"Very much liked." she replied, reaching for his pants and pushing them down. She felt his length, loving how hard he was for her. "But I also like..." she trailed off, tracing her thumb across his tip.

"Oh, that can be arraigned." He said.

The pants were off and he was over her, tracing his fingers over her breasts as she felt his length rub against her.

He watched her carefully as he shifted and slowly moved into her.

Her hands traced up and down his back as he moved inside her, starting off slow, but stepping up the pace as she moved her hips up to meet him, demanding more.

She held on tighter as it build inside her again, his mouth against her ear, whispering dirty little things, detailing all the things he liked to do to her, all the reasons her body was perfection, promising to worship his goddess by making her come again and again.

He had already given her one blinding orgasm and she could feel another one coming.

"I'm so close." she whispered back. "Come with me."

Never one to pass up a challenge, he picked up the pace to meet her, letting himself go just as he felt her pulse around him.

They collapsed in a sweaty tangle, hearts still racing.

He glanced over at the clock. It was only noon. They could do this a few more times before it even got dark. This was shaping up to be the best day ever.

* * *

"I thought I told you to get the hell out of my town."

Rebekah gripped onto the steering wheel tighter.

"Stefan."

"Is it true?" he challenged.

"Is what true?"

"That Caroline Forbes is alive. So is your brother."

Rebekah smirked. She remembered how smug Stefan had looked when he thought Nik was dead. Now someone must have let slip the truth.

"Apparently, wolves can swim."

"What are you doing with Matt Donavan's truck?"

"Stealing it." she sneered. "I've always wanted to see how the other half lives. Now leave me alone."

"Were you in my house?" he challenged. His arms were tucked inside the rolled down window. His hand reached into the door and pulled the lock.

"Why would I go to your stupid house?" she said, unbuckling her seatbelt.

"Someone was there. Damon's room was torn apart." he opened the door.

"Oh, did he not like how it was redecorated?" she asked, stepping out of the car.

"And the car, this afternoon?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." she said. She walked around him in a circle, watching him tense up. He wanted to knock her out. She knew he was looking for a way to subdue her, capture her. But Stefan had some honor. He would never hit a woman.

She watched him, watching her. He was trying to figure out the noble way to do it. How to kidnap without casing physical harm. His compassion was a weakness she could easily exploit.

She moved like she was going to turn her back to him, and suddenly whipped back around, kicking him in the chest.

He landed in the dirt, coughing as he caught his breath.

She raised her foot to stomp on his hand, removing all chances of him being able to hit her.

He caught her off guard, reaching up and pulling on her ankle, causing her to stumble and fall over him.

She regained her composure fast, using her knees to keep him under her. She headbutted him, breaking his nose and sending a think spurt of blood out of his mouth. She hoped he lost a tooth. Try using that charming smile now, funny hair.

His hands were at her shoulders, trying to keep her from attacking him, but still not willing to really fight back. Poor, noble Stefan. It was his own fault really.

"Now. Do it." he grunted.

She cocked a eyebrow. Did he expect her to kill him?

But he was looking behind her.

A needle pierced through the back of her shoulder.

She felt every muscle in her body turn to jelly as she slid down, collapsing next to Stefan's marred face. He had the nerve to look sorry. Then someone else was pulling her away.

* * *

Klaus watched through lazy, half lidded eyes as Caroline tip toed around the room, picking items of clothing off the floor to dress herself.

"I'm just going to pull those right back off."

"All part of the fun." she smiled, sliding back into the bed.

She nuzzled into his side and let her fingers trace across his chest.

He reached over to drape and arm across her, but the back of his hand was stuck to the sheets. He peeled his hand away, revealing smudges of dried blood. The splits in his knuckles from Lockwood's face must have reopened.

She noticed right away, cradling his hand in hers like it was some fragile antique.

"Sorry about that, I'll just go clean it." he said, getting up.

"I'll help." she offered.

He looked at her like she was crazy. It was just a few scratches.

"Will you just let me be nice to you?"

"Fine, fine." He grumbled, pretending not to love her fussing over him.

Caroline gathered up the supplies in the cabinet about the bathroom counter.

"It's really nothing, I'll just wash it off myself."

"Give it." she said, motioning to his hand. There were a few cuts from his scrap with Tyler, and a bit of dried blood on his hand that she wasn't sure was his own.

He begrudgingly held out his hand, leaning against the counter.

She wet a towel in the sink and dabbed at his hand, careful of where the cuts might sting.

He watched her work, the adorable look of focus on her face, the way she was so careful.

His free hand moved across her back, trailing up and down a few times before gently pushing her closer to him.

She ignored it and kept her focus, but he could see a slight smile form on her lips.

He moved his face to the side of her head, breathing in the sweet smell that clung to her hair.

"You shouldn't have done it."

"What? Let him live?"

"No, you shouldn't have hit him at all."

"I heard the way he was talking to you, I saw the way he got too close."

"I could have handled it."

"You shouldn't have to. The Lockwood boy seems to think that just because he was my star pupal means he has infinite value. I'd prefer to keep someone of his talents on the team, but not at the expense of your well being."

"Tyler was an ass today. But he and I have history. He's the reason I made it out of the Damon stuff alive. He helped me so much. I was so lost and he helped me be a person again. No matter how mad I am about how he's been, I don't want him dead. And I don't need you beating him to a pulp in the frozen food section."

Klaus stiffened, pulling his hand out of her grasp and stepping away.

"I see." He snipped. "History."

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, as in, the past. History. You know, like the long list of girls you've had in and out of this apartment?"

"And you just excuse his behavior, because of your history?" he sneered.

"I don't. I'm mad at him. He's done some things that hurt me so much. But..."

"But what?" He challenged, making her flinch.

"But... I guess it's easier to deal with, because I have you. Him cheating and lying, it broke my heart, but I have you now. I'm glad I'm with you and not him. This is better."

"How can you be so calm about it? I should tear his throat out for what he did to you!"

"If he didn't, I'd still be with him. And I wouldn't have met you."

"And the way he talked to you today? That's just fine? Raising his voice at you like-"

"You're doing a pretty good job of that yourself." she snipped.

That shut him up. He clamped his lips in a hard line and crossed his arms, looking down and away from her. He was mad. Mad at himself for raising his voice at her, something that had previously caused her to back away with fear, but now only made her glare at him. Mad at her for constantly letting things go, being too passive with those who had wronged her. He wanted her to point and tell him who to kill. He wanted her bloodthirsty and vengeful. He wanted her to need him to be the one to fix everything in the way he knew best. But she would never be that. All her hurt was covered in sugar and sunshine and he knew it was there, but he couldn't fix it if she kept it locked up like that. It was still hurting her, but she wouldn't let him fix it. Why wouldn't she just let him fix it?

"He's always going to be the one who saved you, isn't he?" He said quietly. "I could bring you Damon's severed head and Tyler will still be the one who saved you from him."

"You don't have to save me."

"But I want to."

"You already did. So many times over." she protested, exasperated.

_She's going to run. She's going to run_. It played on repeat over and over again in his head. This was the first time they had argued since everything shifted and they decided that this thing, whatever it was between them, was real and worth trying. Now she was mad and she was going to run. He felt the control slipping like sand between his fingers. Greatest weakness. It's not like he hadn't been warned.

"Only from myself. Only from situations I put you in. And I took you away, I didn't give you a choice. You can't see anyone or go home and it's because of me. Because I was selfish and impulsive and all I could think about was what I wanted and not what was best for you, and now that people know who you are to me, it's too dangerous to let you go. You feel trapped with me."

She wanted to snap at him. His rage didn't scare her the way it once did. She understood it, and she knew she was protected. But somehow it had turned into a fight, and she hated it. It was that awful feeling of being in the middle of an argument and not quite knowing how you got there or if what you were fighting about even mattered, but you felt like you had to keep going.

"So give me a choice. Tell me I can go home if I want to." She offered.

"It's too dangerous."

"Let me decided that on my own. Show me I'm not trapped with you. If you think I'm only here because I have to be, tell me I can go home."

She tilted her chin up, challenging him, thinking all the words she couldn't say out loud. _Go ahead and talk about how you want to save me and protect me all you want. It doesn't mean anything if you won't let me make my own decisions. If you're just looking for a puppet, let me find out now. I won't fall in love with another person who refuses to see me as a human. _

He looked away from her, trying to blink it away but not blink so much that she could tell. Just a few hours ago, this was home. Now she wanted to go _home_. Away. His eyes stung and he felt a panic build, needing to get out of her sight. _Don't you dare. You're not a child, Niklaus. Don't you dare cry_.

He knew the right thing to do was to let her go. Tell her he would help her find a flight home, back to Mystic Falls and the people she loved. Tell her not to worry, he wouldn't be mad, he understood. Tell her it was her life and he understood that if she wanted to risk going back to that place, it was her own choice to make.

But he never did the right thing. He couldn't. He just wanted her here.

She stood there, holding her ground, waiting for a response.

She looked to him, thinking the words she couldn't say out loud, begging him silently. _Just do this. Tell me it's my choice. Tell me you'll let me go home. Just let me have this and I'll know it's safe. let me know I won't be trapped again. I'm falling in love with you. Everyone I fall in love with hurts me. _

But he wasn't looking back at her, he was looking down, his shoulders angled away. She was trying to look at him, get him to see. Get him to understand that she needed this, she needed him to promise her it would always be her choice, even though the only choice she could ever consider making would be to stay here with him. But he wouldn't even look at her. He was focused on his own feet, clearing his throat, arms crossed, shoulders hunched. He was shutting her out.

He couldn't stand it. She was asking him to let her go. She wanted to leave. She wouldn't be asking him to give her the choice if she didn't want to take it. Everything he felt, everything he thought she felt, it was all just her playing along. She was just waiting for a chance to leave.

Without looking at her, he stomped across the room and into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him so hard the windows shook.

* * *

"Are you and your brothers drug dealers?"

Elijah blinked, trying to find an appropriate response to a rather blunt question. They had been sitting on the sofa in his apartment, talking about this and that, their conversation only interrupted by the rare instances where he felt brave enough to lean forward and kiss her.

Katherine was looking back at him calmly, waiting for an answer.

"What makes you ask that?" Elijah replied, trying to appear indifferent. Yes, they had moved drug shipments, but that wasn't exactly the main source of income for the Mikaelsons. Not to mention the fact that he had done things that were much more immoral things than selling drugs.

"Well, first of all, no judgement. I kinda did a lot of drugs when I was a teenager. I had friends that were dealers, it's no big deal. I uh, I don't really do that stuff anymore, other than a little pot here and there, but I don't care if other people do stuff, as long as it's not wrecking their life."

He nodded, smiling a bit at the image of her as an even wilder party girl in her teens. She would have scared teenage him out of his wits, and he was a trained assassin at seventeen. Girls like her were always terrifying.

"And I remind you of your old drug dealer friends?" He responded.

"Yes and no. You dress much fancier. But the same dodgy answers, the obvious secrets, the mysterious wealth."

"I told you my family has money."

"Yeah but you never mentioned how they got it. And you and your brother both seem to be well off, but you don't have regular jobs, or you set your own hours and can afford to take time off in the middle of the week to stay in and spend time with some girl you just met."

"I wouldn't have been able to tear myself away even if the threats of starvation and eviction were looming."

"Very sweet. But whatever you do, you keep it secret. And Jeremy has a history with drugs, I'm sure you know that. And he's working for you, and he won't tell me anything about what he does, and he's my little brother. I'm worried about him."

"I can't tell you everything." Elijah said cautiously.

"What can you tell me?"

"Jeremy's safe. The things he does for us, the things we do... they're not quite legal. But we're very good at what we do. And we look out for our people. He's protected."

"So, it's not drugs?"

"Not really. It's a lot of things."

"And the story about your brother rescuing a shipwrecked Caroline while Jeremy was on the boat with him?"

"Not quite true, but it was a strange coincidence that Caroline should end up with us. Niklaus had no idea she was from the same town as Jeremy when they met."

"But you found some barely out of high school kid from a small town in Virginia to work for your sophisticated European secret criminal whatyoucallit?"

"Truthfully, Mystic Falls isn't just some small town. We were particularly interested in young people from your town working for us. There's another boy, Tyler Lockwood, who also works for us. The first time I met you... I had seen your picture before. I knew who you were."

Katherine inched back a little.

Elijah looked hurt, wanting to kick himself for saying it. He didn't want to lie about it, but at the same time, he knew it was a creepy thing to say.

"It's good sense to be frightened by what I just said. But you don't have to worry about your safety. You're not in any danger here."

"You just said..."

"I know. Gilberts are part of something else. Something in direct opposition with my family. They would have told you in a few years, when you reached the right age. The reason we picked your brother to work for us is because of that."

"Why?"

"We have the advantage of our enemies not knowing who we are or being trained to handle us until they turn 25. When faced with a choice on how best to weaken the opposition, there were two very clear ways to go about it. Go after the next generation, those under that age. Either kill them or convert them to our side. We chose the latter."

"That seems like the less pragmatic choice."

"It is. But Kol, he has a way with people. It was his decision, and I'm glad he pushed us towards it."

"Why?"

"It has a lot of tactical advantages we didn't see at first. But also, it led to me meeting you."

He hoped that line would make her melt, but it only made her scoff and glare at him.

"If you and your family do anything to hurt my little brother, I'll kill you."

"You know enough about me to know that's an empty threat. But trust me, Jeremy is in good hands. Kol may seem like a buffoon, but he knows what he's doing. The Lockwood boy from your hometown is also working closely with Jeremy. We take care of our own."

"So do I." Katherine said.

Elijah nodded, admiring her tenacity. He wondered why they hadn't recruited her from the start. She didn't have the brute strength of her brother or the Lockwood boy, but she had all the things he valued in a person. She could fit.

"What kind of work are you in right now, Miss Gilbert?"

"I have a feeling you already know the answer, Mr. Mikaelson."

"I'm aware of your arrest records." he said calmly.

She moved closer to him, swinging a leg over his lap and moving a hand through his hair.

"And what do yours look like?" she challenged.

"I've never been caught."

"Is that so?" she said, moving fingers through his hair.

"Join us." he said. "I promise to make it worth your while."

"Would that make you my boss? I guess that mean's we'd have to stop sleeping together." she teased.

"Oh, no. We encourage that."

She grinned and leaned in to kiss him.

"Is that a yes?" he asked.

"Yes."

* * *

Caroline was pacing around the apartment. He had been locked in his room for an hour, not making a sound. She had cried for a few minutes, devastated by his reaction. All she wanted was for him to say she could go home if she wanted. All she needed was to confirm what she was almost sure of, that he was different. That unlike Damon and Tyler, he saw he as a person, that he respected her and would let her make her own decisions.

But now she felt more confused than ever. He didn't say anything. He just left the room.

She was pacing back and forth in front of the guest bedroom and the closet in the hallway. Absently, she wandered around the closet, trying to figure the shape of it out, it didn't seem to match up right, the placement of it seemed off. With a quick glance toward his still closed bedroom door, she looked back at the closet and gave the handle a tug. Locked.

She moved around the hall, into the guest room, trying to figure out the shape of the closet as it fit with the other rooms. She moved back towards the kitchen and counted her steps, mapping out the space behind the door as it fit with the rest of the apartment.

It wasn't a closet.

It was a room.

Why had he lied about it?

She shot another nervous glance towards the bedroom door.

What had she gotten herself into this time?


	17. Chapter 17

Klaus looked over all the paperwork in front of him. He had spent the last hour getting it in order for her.

_Just do it. Walk out there. Face her._

He threw the papers on the bed.

It wasn't in his nature to be kind for the sake of being kind. He would never have thought he would care.

He knew that wasn't how it would have gone any other time. She knew too much. She was a loose end. If it was anyone else they'd already be buried in concrete, with a bullet in their brain.

This was stupid.

It was going to get him killed.

It was the irony of all ironies, he had never done anything good, anything right. But here he was, signing his own death warrant, all for some girl who never cared about him. All for some girl who outplayed him, made him save her, made him love her, even though he was far too proud to say it. Even after she demanded he let her go home, even after she made it clear she didn't want to be here, he still felt it. She won. She managed to get him to care about her more than himself. There's a first time for everything.

The forged passport for an Cara Michaels had her photo in it, ready to go. He even got an American one for her, knowing she would end up tripping over her own feet trying to match his accent. It had been sitting in his desk next to the one he was using. Nick Michaels, British citizen. He thought it would be fun to give her the same last name. He had spent the last few days imagining it, letting the fantasy of a future drift in and out of his days with her. He would smile at the idea of pretending to be newlyweds as they went on their trips. He would tease his American wife as they strolled through customs in Mexico, Italy, France. Gushing to anyone who would listen about their made up wedding and how excited they were for their honeymoon trip. Playfighting about the whole soccer / football thing. Teasing each other about how they pronounce certain words. They would be sickeningly charming.

He would surprise her with Japan. She wouldn't expect that one. Maybe by that point she would forget about how Nick and Cara Michaels were just pretend people for when they were walking through would weave their ways into the trips. She would slip up and refer to him as her husband at the front desk, to the waiter, to the driver. He would tease her about it and she would turn red. It would be fun.

But now Cara Michaels had a one way ticket to Virginia, and her darling husband Nick wouldn't be joining her.

He moved to his laptop, deleting the browser history that searched for tickets and hotels in all those places. They weren't going. He didn't want to ever be reminded of the stupid little story that he had let float around in his head.

The facetime icon on the laptop blinked, and he considered ignoring it. He looked like hell and was in no mood to chat. But it was Henrik.

"Hey, mate."

"Nik!" Henrik smiled back at him. "We miss you! Mum wants you and Caroline to visit soon."

"Mum actually said she wanted to see Caroline again?"

"Yeah, she really likes her. Said she wanted to take her to the shooting range again, to make sure she didn't get too rusty."

"Mum took Caroline out to the shooting range?" Klaus asked. That seemed odd to him. His mother never warmed up to anyone. She hated outsiders. It wasn't until Finn and Sage were married that she would even smile at the woman.

"Yeah, a bunch of times. She was really good after a few lessons. I helped a bit."

"Of course you did. You're an impeccable shot." Klaus agreed.

He looked over his shoulder nervously at the door to his bedroom. Now he was picturing Caroline on the other side, gun cocked, waiting to pull the trigger. She probably hated him enough to do it, after he pulled a rather childish move, stomping away from an argument. He would have the dubious honor of having been shot by both mother and daughter Forbes.

"Is she there? I want to say hello." Henrik asked.

Klaus looked down, guilty. It figured that he would finally meet a girl that he couldn't walk away from and everyone else in his life would be charmed by her too. Only for her to walk away and leave him with the shame of having to explain he couldn't hold on to her.

"She's in the shower." he lied. "I'll tell her you said hi."

Henrik picked up on the discomfort.

"Did you?" he started, then leaned in and lowered his voice. "Did you _do something_? I thought you said she wasn't-"

"No." Klaus responded. "I didn't _do_ anything. She's fine."

Why did everyone assume he couldn't do anything right? His own brother still thought that Caroline was just some pawn in a plan, something to be sacrificed.

"Listen mate, I'm up to my elbows with work, I'll talk to you later, yeah?"

Henrik nodded. "Laters." He agreed, and clicked out of the chat, leaving behind an empty screen.

Klaus leaned back, giving himself one more moment before he had to step out of the room and face her.

* * *

Jeremy knocked on the door to the third floor walk up in the ugliest apartment building in town. After blowing up Damon's car, he had gone home to say hi. His parents were out, but Elena was there. She had only spent a half hour scolding Jeremy for his disappearing act before she got the call. Damon had a few scratches and that was enough to send her into a panic, running out of the house to go play nurse.

With the family out, he decided to go visit a friend.

Matt flung the door open, looking both hopeful and panicked.

His face fell when he saw who was on the other side.

"Nice to see you too." Jeremy muttered. "I just got back in town, what's up?"

"Was there a girl, did you see a girl?"

"Huh?"

"On your way here. Did you see a girl. Really pretty, blonde hair. Um, i think she was wearing like, shorts and a white shirt?"

"Nah, but I saw your truck about a mile away, stalled out at that intersection. You getting it towed again?"

"The truck's there?" Matt said, dazed. "Was she there? Did you see her?"

"Who?" Jeremy asked.

Mat just shook his head and ran down the stairs.

Jeremy followed, a bit confused by his normally level headed friend's behavior.

They got to the truck. Matt looked around but there was no one there.

"I'll call a tow." Jeremy offered.

Matt picked up a jar of tomato sauce from the front seat.

"She was coming back."

"What?" Jeremy said, tucking the phone against his shoulder.

"Rebekah. Thats her name. She's my... I don;t know what she is. She's unpredictable, I don't even know her last name or where she came from, but she's got this British accent. She would always disappear, but this time she promised to come back. She got the stuff, so she was on her way back. Someone took her. I have to call Sheriff Forbes."

"Matt, maybe that isn't a good idea."

"I have to do something. Rebekah was coming back. You don't understand. She was on her way back. We need to call the police."

"Rebekah with blonde hair?" Jeremy said carefully. "Thin, about five-six, around my age, and a British accent?"

"You saw her?"

"Matt, whatever you do, don't call the police. Don't tell anyone."

"Jere, what's going one?"

"You need to trust me on this. If we call the police, Rebekah is going to get hurt. There's someone else we need to call."

* * *

He opened the door. Caroline was sitting in the hallway, on the floor with her back leaning against that door. The one he had told her opened to a closet, not wanting to have to deal with the rather embarrassing truth.

She looked like she had been crying, but her eyes were hopeful.

He sighed heavily and took the first step towards her. She seemed nervous as she slowly got to her feet.

He looked at her one last time, taking it all in.

"Everything you need is on the bed. I called you a car, it should be here in twenty minutes."

She tilted her head, confused by what he meant.

"You want me to leave?" she asked.

She wondered what was behind that door. Did he need to get to it without her seeing? Was it why he needed her out of there?

He looked at her, and shook his head.

"Of course I don't want you to, but you're going to anyway so that's all there is to it."

"Klaus, I just wanted to -"

"You just wanted to get away from me? Anywhere but here? Because I'm a monster, right? And I was foolish enough to believe that anyone could feel the way you were pretending to feel about me. Even after everything I put you through."

"What, no, I didn't mean-" she started.

"Save it. You win, sweetheart. You fooled me."

"Klaus!" she protested, but he was already walking away, opening his door.

He turned around in the doorway, looking at her one last time. She would be gone when he got back. He wanted to close the door, run back inside and beg her to stay. But he wouldn't grovel. So he stepped out, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

Caroline was stunned. All she wanted was a choice in the matter, the right to determine for herself rather than just let him control her life. He wouldn't even listen. He just shut down, walked out, slammed doors. And what did he mean when he said she fooled him?

She carefully walked down the hall to his room. There were papers sitting on the bed.

She flipped through them.

There was a ticket for her flight. That day. Right back to Virginia. She could be home tonight.

The passport next to it was for her. She looked back at her own picture, but it was a different name. Cara Michaels. Michaels sounded a lot like Mikaelson. She tried not to read into it too much.

There was a receipt for a cab company, expected to knock on the door in twenty minutes.

That was it. No note, nothing personal. He hadn't even said goodbye.

She didn't understand. All she wanted was for him to understand that she needed to have a choice in the matter. He knew everything. She had told him about Damon, about Tyler, everything that had happened. Something about him just made her spill her guts and she hated that he had that thing, whatever it was, that made her blindly trust him. All she was asking was for him to trust her in return, but he threw a fit instead and handed her a ticket to leave.

_You don't get off that easy_, she thought.

_You don't get to just shove me aside. You think i'm just going to walk out? Well tough luck, buddy. I'll be waiting right here when you get back from your little temper tantrum. And we're going to have words about this_.

She stomped around the apartment, letting her mood shift with every turn as she paced through the rooms. She went from angry to hurt to ready to just move past it all. She didn't know if she would greet him with a smile or a slap in the face when he returned.

There was a knock on the door and her heart jumped, hoping it was him. Maybe he forgot his key or something. But it was just the car to take her to the airport. She politely explained that she had a change of plans.

Now all she had to do was wait.

She glanced at the door in the hall again.

He lied.

He said it was a closet.

But she mapped out the space it took up by looking at the rooms around it, an there was no way. It was too big to be a closet. She even leaned her head out the kitchen window and found there were extra windows on the side of the building that must have been in that room.

Why wouldn't he tell her the truth? It's not like he was trying to impress her by being on his best behavior or hiding his seedy past. She knew all about his family, his history with women. What could be so bad that he would lie about it?

She took a deep breath and twisted the knob. Locked. Of course it would be. Just like it was a few minutes ago. It wouldn't be so easy as to just wish it open. She paced back and forth in front of the door. There was a room on the other side. He was hiding something. Whatever it was, she needed to know. It was eating her alive.

She went to the bathroom, hoping to find a bobby pin left behind from the long list of girls who had been here before. Nothing. The place was wiped clean of any hints of his history of one night stands.

She found a knife in the kitchen and tried slipping it through the frame and wiggling the lock. No luck. She walked heavily back to the kitchen and opened the drawer to put the knife back. Something caught her eye. She picked up the long metal skewer and examined the pointed end. Perfect.

Kneeling in front of the doorway, she slid the skewer into the lock and listened as it scraped against the gears inside the the lock. She tried a few twists that didn't budge and almost gave up when she heard the most satisfying click. She took a deep breath and twisted the doorknob. It turned.

The windows were blacked out. The switch on the wall lit several hanging lamps propped at odd angles to create even lighting. An easel sat in the middle of the room with a canvas propped up. The smell of turpentine and oil paints lingered in the room, clinging to dropcloths on the ground and the very air that was kept trapped in here.

She knew once the door was opened he would know she opened it. He would see the secret in her eyes, he would smell the tiniest hint of the turpentine smell that floated out to the rest of the apartment. She was afraid of what he would do. But it wasn't nearly as terrifying as what was in the room.

The walls were covered in stacks of paintings. There were some places where eight canvases leaned against each other. A few hung from the walls haphazardly, as if they were up there more to clear space on the floor than to display them as art. They were all close up portraits, faces in painstaking details. Some were so realistic, she had to get within inches to be sure they weren't photos. Others were more abstract, frenzied. It must have been a decade's worth of work. She counted the paintings until her stomach clenched from thinking about the number she was tallying.

The expressions varied from fear to anger to pain. A few looked calm or defiant, more looked shocked. She didn't need confirmation to know what they were. They were last moments. And they were all people he had killed.

Caroline felt dizzy.

Her knees buckled and she slammed down hard on the floor as she tried to lower herself to sit. The shock vibrated up her spine but it was like her whole body flushed cold and went numb.

They were all looking at her.

Her heart was racing.

All those faces.

She crawled across the floor to a stack of canvases. Flipping through, she looked at each one. Some had spatters of blood across the faces. One hand a hand reaching up towards the viewer, fingers curled like claws. Another was tinted blue, eyes bulging. It reminded her of what it felt like to think you were going to choke to death. Of Damon's hand around her neck.

Klaus did this. He killed people.

But he never had seemed like he celebrated it. He did what he had to for the duty and protection of family. At least that was what she assumed. What she let herself believe so she could justify being with him. But now, how could she say it wasn't because he liked it? With all these faces in a secret room, faces he had carefully reconstructed, keeping all his victims with him.

There was one canvas wrapped in brown paper, at the very bottom of the largest stack. It was the only one he had concealed.

She pried it out from the others and held it in front of her. With shaking hands she ripped the paper off.

It was him.

The man who was conveniently missing from all the family photos back at the Mikaelson home. the man she had tried to create a composite of in her mind.

But there he was. An older version of some mix of Elijah and Kol, with Rebekah's hair color.

Mikael.

Shocked and angry and covered in blood.

The canvas itself was frayed, as if someone had stabbed it repeatedly.

It dropped to the floor before she could register that she was the one who had dropped it.

The room was spinning. She looked at all the faces. They all looked at her.

Her eyes rolled back and her head smacked against the floor.

* * *

Elijah and Katherine were at the kitchen table, photos and maps and lists spread out in front of them.

"So that takes us up to the present." Elijah said. "It's the same they would have told you when you aged up, give or take a few details that might look us look like the bad guys."

"My sister." Katherine said quietly.

"We have a year and a half before she knows. If you think..."

"She would never. She's in love with both of the Salvatore brothers, she's closer to our parents than Jere and I ever were. Elena wouldn't do this."

"If you want to back out, now would be the time."

"I don't get along with them, Elena and our parents. Jere was always the only one who didn't judge me for the things I've done. But I don't want to hurt them."

"I'll give you the same deal I gave Lockwood and your brother. Immediate family members will never be asked to harm their own. And as long as you work for us, your family won't be collateral damage. I respect loyalty to family. We'll only go after Grayson, Miranda or Elena if they pose a direct threat."

Katherine nodded.

"Take a day to think about it." Elijah offered. "It's ok if you don't want to join, now that you understand how the game is played."

* * *

The doctor's office was dark and empty. No patients today.

Stefan hoisted the limp body onto one of the exam tables. Rebekah's arm flopped off the side of the table. She would stay unconscious for a while yet.

"Thanks Dr. Gilbert."

Grayson Gilbert just nodded and slapped Stefan on the back before leaving the room to get some straps to hold her down.

He returned and caught Stefan wistfully looking around the office.

"You know, when I was little, I always wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to grow up to do something that helps people."

Grayson shook his head.

"You still can be. You have so much time ahead of you."

"I don't want to go back to school. Not now, not knowing what I know. My place is here."

"Damon told me when he told you early. I fought him on it. The council has these rules for a reason, and I didn't want my children to find out before they were ready."

"But if he hadn't told me? She came into town looking for me. That means-"

"That means that your brother was right." Grayson responded. "That they're trying to lure out the young people who don't know. He was right to be suspicious of the Lockwood boy. There's something about that trip abroad that isn't quite right."

"I had class with Tyler, he was never the smartest of the bunch. There's no way he could have gotten a scholarship in that program. Something's up."

"So they have Tyler. And your brother seems so certain they're holding Caroline Forbes hostage?"

"He swore that the Wolf is alive, and that he said he had Caroline. Damon said Niklaus is holding her hostage."

"Why her?"

"I don't know." Stefan admitted. "But now we have one of them. It's a start."

"I'm going to ask you to keep away from my daughter for the next few days. Find a way to keep her from wanting to see you." Grayson said pointedly.

Stefan nodded. "I will. When they find out about Rebekah, the first place they'll come looking is my house. Elena can't be there."

"Glad we're on the same page." Grayson agreed.

They shared an awkward moment of silence.

"She's all I have left." Grayson said quietly.

Stefan tried to find a response, but he couldn't quite find the words.

"Katherine, I don't even know where she is, she wanders in and out as she pleases, now Jeremy does the same. I've caught them both with drugs when they were teenagers, they both always had so much anger, who know what they're getting into now. All I know is Elena is the only one I managed to get it right with. She's here and she's good and she's not corrupted by all this."

"I'm not going to let her get hurt." Stefan promised.

Grayson nodded and turned back to the table of supplies in front of him. He unlocked a box full of syringes, all marked with different colored stripes.

"What's all this?" Stefan asked.

"Always pays to have a doctor on your team." Grayson said. "This one" He said, holding out a blue marked syringe "is the sedative. The Mikaelson girl will need another one in a few hours if we want to keep her down for now."

"And these?" Stefan asked, pointing to the other rows.

"Antibiotic." Grayson said, pointing to one marked pink. Painkiller was lilac, paralyzing agent was silver, deadly poison was black.

Stefan tapped a syringe with black and red stripes. The concoction inside it was a murky chartreuse, drastically different from the clear liquids in the other vials.

"That one" Grayson said "Is a fate much worse than death. It's a concoction I had to beg, bribe and steal to get my hands on. We call that one the hunter."

* * *

Klaus tilted the tiny bit of amber liquid from side to side, twisting the glass in his hand. He picked it up and downed the last of it, promptly waving over the bartender for another.

"What's the meaning of all this?" Elijah said, pulling up a chair.

Klaus pursed his lips and raised the new drink up, draining it in a single sip.

"Niklaus, I have a very beautiful, very impatient woman at my flat."

Klaus waved down the bartender for a refill.

"I don't understand the point of you calling me here to watch you drink yourself into a coma when you just this morning made it so very clear you did not want to be disrupted from your alone time with Caroline."

"Well, it's all over now." Klaus said, tapping his glass against the counter.

"Is that so?" Elijah said, raising an eyebrow.

Klaus told him the story, going through the argument step by step, explaining he needed a place to wait and get blindingly drunk while he waited for her to leave. How he didn't want to be able to see straight by the time he stumbled back to his empty flat.

"Oh, bloody hell, Niklaus." Elijah sighed.

Klaus looked bewildered. Elijah wasn't much for swearing, and he expected a little more sympathy than annoyance.

"Is this the first time you've ever gotten into an argument with a woman? Do you know nothing at all?"

He glared at his brother.

"I have a lifetime of experience arguing with Bekah."

"That's different. And you two usually just scream at each other until one of you leaves the room or blackmails the other into going along with what you want. I mean, have you ever actually had a woman around long enough to have to sort through things like this?"

"There was Tatia." he said, glaring at Elijah.

Elijah shook his head. "That's not the same as this. You didn't argue with her because you never really cared. You just accepted that you two were to be betrothed, to unite the families."

"And look how unified the Petrovas and Mikaelson's are now. Bravo, Elijah."

"I was the one who actually cared about her. Don't make me to be the villain in this one, Niklaus."

"No, it's always me, isn't it?"

"See that's the thinking that got you into this mess. If you keep acting like the whole world sees you as that, no one will ever bother to see anything different. It's a miracle Caroline even-"

"Even what? Pretended to care about me long enough to get me to care back? Only so I would let her leave?"

"How are you so blind, Niklaus? Anyone at all could tell the girl is madly in love with you. Not everyone is just waiting to leave! She didn't want you to hand her a ticket and tell her to be gone by the time you got back! She wanted you to tell her she could leave whenever she wanted, that you would let her go. You didn't have to force her out, you could have handed her the passport and enough cash to book a ticket and told her that it was her choice!"

His head was swimming. How could Elijah be so confident she felt that way? She wasn't in love with him. She didn't even like him. It was all an act because she needed to leave, and he was blocking her from doing it. Right? He needed another drink.

The bartender had the nerve to look judgmental as he poured another inch of scotch into the glass. Klaus slammed it down before the bartender even put down the bottle.

"If she wanted a choice, why didn't she just say that?"

"Because she's a woman. Because she wanted to see if she could trust you. I don't know, Niklaus, the list is endless."

"Why would she want a choice if she wasn't going to go?"

"Maybe she doesn't want to live like a caged bird, did you ever think of that? You were so stuck in your own mind that you didn't bother to see it from her point of view."

"Well she's not caged anymore. She's on her way back to Mystic Falls." Klaus said.

"Is she, now?" Elijah said. "Give me your phone."

Klaus slapped it on the bartop. Elijah found the outgoing call to the cab company and redialed.

"Hello, I was just wondering if you've already sent a driver out to the call from the building at the corner of 7th and Hadley? Really? No, I understand what prepaid means, thank you. Goodbye."

Klaus was staring into his empty glass.

"They already sent the driver out to pick her up." Elijah said gently.

Klaus sighed.

"She didn't get in the car." Elijah finished.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know. But I do know this. That girl is not going to put up with you running away or trying to force her hand every time things get a little tough. You're going to have to do better, Niklaus."

"I'm not trained for this."

"None of us are."

"She probably didn't get in the car because she already walked to the airport. She probably ran out the door the second I left."

"I left Katherine in my flat to come here. I left, and asked her to wait for me. Whenever you step out that door, there's a chance that the girl will be gone when you return. Whenever you let yourself feel something, there's a chance it won't be returned. If you want to keep the girl, you have to trust her."

"But it's so..." Klaus started and stopped himself from saying the word out loud. He wouldn't admit it, not even to Elijah.

"I know. Terrifying." Elijah responded.

Klaus pretended like his brother hadn't just read his mind. He averted his eyes. How many times had he looked death in the face, how many times had he endured the worst pain imaginable, and this was what scared him? Something ordinary people did?

"Here's what I'm going to do." Elijah offered. "I'm going to walk out of here and go back to my flat, hoping that the lady is still there. And if she is, it's because she wants to be and not because I'm keeping her there. And she'll probably be annoyed with me and I'll have to work at staying in her good graces. But I'll manage. Because she seems to like me enough to put up with my shortcomings and for some reason she chose me. And I intend to thoroughly enjoy that."

Elijah stood up, dusted off his jacket and pushed his chair towards the bar.

"What about me?" Klaus mumbled.

"I suggest you do the same."

* * *

Kol was on his way to check out the boat. It had been in the shop ever since Niklaus had punched a hole through one of the interior walls so big you could step through it, not to mention the carpets he had managed to bleed all over. At least he had been gracious enough to pick up the tab for the repairs. Now it was finally all patched up and ready for another booze cruise.

"Cheerleader?" he asked Hayley.

"I lack the spunk and pep."

"Debutante?"

"Not exactly the southern belle type." she retorted.

"Sorority girl?"

She nodded approvingly. "I could probably pull off that one."

"Excellent. Now which sorority houses have the women with the loosest morals?"

"This isn't for a mission, you just want an excuse to party with a bunch of girls!" she shoved him playfully, cracking a smile.

"Now what's the point of having a a party boat if the only people you can party with are your own employees. A man has needs, my dear, and since you are otherwise occupied and the rest of the team is male..."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it."

His phone rang. Jeremy. He showed the screen to Hayley, who rolled her eyes at the ID he had the number listed under, 'brother-from-another-mother"

"You two are so brokeback."

"You wish, dollface. No romance in this bromance."

She smiled.

"Talk to me." Kol said, answering the phone.

"We have a problem." Jeremy said on the other end.

Kol's face dropped. "What kind of problem?"

Hayley watched as Kol hissed responses and got increasingly stressed. He wasn't his normal joking smiling self. Something had gone very wrong.

"Why would I question it if she said she was in Spain... yes...you're sure he's not council?...ok, just keep the boy contained, I'll alert the others...wait for backup to get there, you're of no use to Rebekah if you get yourself killed halfway into a rescue mission. ... Right. Bye."

Hayley gestured to him, looking for an explanation.

"I need to call my brothers and mother. This is bad."

"How bad?"

"Bekah was in Mystic Falls. Someone took her."

* * *

Klaus checked his mail five times, knowing there was nothing in the little box in the lobby. He was stalling. Elijah was wrong. There was no way she was up there. She was long gone and he wasn't even drunk anymore. He briefly considered just going back to the pub and avoiding home for another few hours.

He took the steps, wanting to take a little more time. The elevator would get him there far too quickly.

The door arrived in front of him and he stood there, hesitating before reaching to the handle. He didn't hear any movement on the other side. She was gone. He knew it. Elijah never really knew what he was talking about.

He opened the door and the empty room looked back at him. The air wasn't quite right. Turpentine.

His stomach twisted in a knot.

He ran to the room and sure enough the door was open.

Caroline was laying on the floor next to the canvas he had wrapped up. The paper was torn off and Mikael was staring back at him.

He kicked the canvas out of the way and leaned down to check on her. She was here, but why was she_ here_? In this room? How did she even get in?

It didn't matter. She was here. He would explain everything if he had to, but for this moment he just wanted to enjoy that for once, Elijah was right.

She opened her eyes and looked up at him. Her mouth parted but nothing came out. He reached down and touched the side of her face, causing her to flinch back.

He looked at her and saw nothing but fear.


	18. Chapter 18

**Wow, this ended up being a long chapter. Fair warning, there's some smut here. **

**Again, thank you to everyone who takes the time to read and review this story. You guys are incredible. **

* * *

Caroline flinched back, pulling away from where he touched her face.

"You're still here." he said.

"What is this place?" she said, sitting up.

"I didn't want you to see this."

"You lied to me."

"Are you ok? Why were you on the floor?"

"You lied to me. You tried to hide this room from me."

"I..." he started, trying to find a way to explain it. He never wanted her to see it, but he didn't mean to lie. It just wasn't something he liked to talk about.

She blinked back tears, but they wouldn't go away. Once the first fat droplets hit her cheeks it was as if a floodgate opened. She couldn't stop it.

He winced, feeling actual physical pain at the sight of it.

He reached out but she moved back, looking around at all the paintings.

"Are these your trophies? Do you come in here and pat yourself on the back for what you do?" she said, her voice cracking.

"No. It's not like that, I-"

"I knew this about you. I knew you killed people, and it didn't scare me as much as I knew it should have. I wanted to be with you anyway. But just seeing all this..."

"I should have told you about this room. But with all the things going on, and with all the people who hurt you, I didn't know how to explain it."

"Does it make you feel good? To come in here and look at them? Do you feel powerful, knowing that you-"

"No!" he shouted. "No." he repeated a bit quieter. "Its not like that, it's, um." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked around the room. "It's embarrassing. I didn't want to tell you."

"Embarrassing like cracking your head on the floor of your boyfriend's freaky murder painting trophy room?"

"You hurt your head?" he moved towards her. "That's why you were on the floor?"

He got a little closer, and she was tense about letting him come close, but she allowed it. He ran a hand through the back of her hair to check her over. He couldn't help the smirk that curled up on his lips. She called him her boyfriend. Even now, she wasn't running. He caught a blush starting to rise in her cheeks when she realized what she had just said.

"Oh god, I didn't mean you're my. Oh, just forget it, ok, I didn't mean to-"

"Would that be so bad?"

"No, but you're a guy and I know how guys get with this kind of stuff with labels and all that, so forget I said it, ok? I wasn't thinking straight. Head injury."

"You can call me that. I'll be that if that's what you want me to be."

"Is that what you want? And no more lies."

"I know I'll be rubbish at this, it's not something I really know how to do. But yes. You're still here. I was awful today and I stormed out and you were still here. Even after you saw this room. I was so certain that if you saw the real me, if I let my guard down that you would hate me or run away. And you might hate me, I don't know, but you didn't run."

"I don't hate you. And I want to be with you. But no more secrets and lies, and no more storming out because you assume I might feel a certain way. You have to tell me things."

He nodded.

"You have to explain this." She motioned to the room around them. "This is really freaking me out, I keep picturing myself in one of these paintings."

"So you know what they are."

"I think so." she said. "You killed all of them?"

"Yes. Caroline, you have to know, that will never happen to you. I won't hurt you and I won't allow anyone else to. Today I thought I lost you, and still, I would never let any harm come to you."

"And this is like a trophy thing? To keep all of your kills in this room?"

"No."

"Then what?"

"I don't really want to..."

"You promised. Just tell me."

"It's the only way to keep them out." he said, looking down.

"What?"

"It's not something that gets easier, just because you do it a lot. It never gets easier, and it has to be done. They stick in my mind and follow me everywhere. If I paint them, it's like taking the memory and storing it somewhere else."

"I never imagined you felt anything about killing. I thought you just did it and didn't care."

"I feel _everything_. And I can't flip the switch and turn it off. I'm not... I'm not a real Mikaelson, I didn't get whatever's in the blood that makes the rest of them able to live with it and not be haunted. I remember every time I looked in someone's eyes. I remember every time I held someone's life in my hands and tore it away. And they follow me. I painted the nightmares when I couldn't get back to sleep, and eventually I realized that it was a way to move on. When I painted their faces, they left me alone."

Caroline stayed frozen in place, sitting across from him on the paint splattered floor.

"I know what you're thinking." he mumbled.

She wiped away the tears that made her face itch.

"And what's that?" she challenged.

"You're wondering how I can be such a monster and so weak at the same time."

"No."

"Why are you still here? Why didn't you leave when I gave you the chance? You could be on your way home by now."

"I want to be with you."

"Why?" he asked. "Look at this room. All these faces. I know you're scared. I know you see me and you see someone who causes pain and you've already had so much of that. You should be running away."

"I'm not running. I am scared. I'm scared of this room, I'm scared of what you do, of what could happen to me by being involved with you and your family."

He nodded, looking at her, wanting to reach towards her and wipe away the tears.

"This is where I choose to be. You are exactly who I want to be with."

"I... I don't understand why."

"What happened to the arrogant, persistent man who snatched me out of a plane? Who was so certain he could get to me?"

"I am very good at charming people on the most superficial levels. With women, I might have used that skill to my advantage, for rather base reasons..."

"You're good at the part that comes after too." she interrupted.

He laughed nervously. "Thanks you, love. But thats as far as it ever gets. I can only be superficially charming for so long. It's exhausting to keep walls up, so I push people away. I trust no one but family."

"But I saw the real you. On the islands, in the caves. The person with scars and the person who saved me over and over again. You took care of me. You were good when you didn't need to be."

"I'm not good. I do terrible things. I can't even do that without having to come in here and paint to cope with it. There were paintings before, of things that happened when we were children. I burned them all, to make the memories go away. But they always come back. All the bad things Mikael did to us, to my mother, all the torment, it was all because of me."

Caroline hugged him, watching him break down. She traced her hands along his back as she pulled him in tighter. She had never seen him so broken, and yet it had never been so clear that he was everything she needed. She had never wanted anything as much as she wanted to take away his pain in that moment.

"It was never your fault. He was terrible. If he did things out of anger, because you weren't his blood, that was his fault, not yours. You're so lucky you don't have his blood. Your siblings have to carry his genetics, but you're free of that."

"Free to be an abomination. A bastard born into a family of legends, given a family name he has no right to."

"I thought they called you the Wolf."

"Many do."

"So you've made your own name. And your family loves you. They don't see you as different. But I do."

He pulled away from the hug, giving her a hesitant look.

"I see you as different from anyone I've ever met. And I like you exactly as you are, even with the parts that terrify me. You've taken care of me like no one ever has. I feel safe with you. And I want you to let me take care of you too."

He pulled her back in, hugging her tightly.

"How can you care for me? You deserve so much better. I'm a monster."

"You're not." she said.

"There's so much blood on my hands. I've done so much."

"You're loyal to your family. And you make me feel... safe. I'm so tired of looking over my shoulder. I'm tired of being betrayed by people I trust. I'm tired of having to smile and pretend everything's fine so other people will feel comfortable. But now the nightmares have stopped. And you treat me like I'm important, not just some side character in someone else's story."

"You're the only one who sees me that way. To other people, I am the nightmares."

"Henrik sees you as a hero. So does your mother. You know that."

"Not even they see the side of me you're seeing. Not even they come in this room."

"I want to be with you. I want to know every part of you."

"Please don't leave." he whispered, holding on to her tighter.

"Never." she promised.

"Please don't leave." he repeated, kissing along her shoulder.

She pulled her head up off his shoulder to face him. He was worried, desperate. She could tell he was thinking he said to much, that he let too much of himself show and that he thought she would be repulsed. For someone who was outwardly so cocky and smooth, there was so much insecurity under the surface.

"I'm not going to." she promised again.

He kissed her, his thumb tracing along the side of her face. He felt the tears streaked along her cheeks and saw flashes of all the people who had made this girl cry move behind his closed eyes.

Tyler, Damon, her mother. Himself.

He vowed to fix it, to punish those who made her hurt, to force her mother into some kind of decency, to make the Lockwood boy sweat out a penance so brutal he would shake in fear before thinking of speaking a word to her. Damon would be in the ground soon enough.

He had messed up terribly, with the yelling, the assumptions, the storming out. Even worse for keeping the room secret, letting her find it on her own and have to stew in her fear. Fear of him. Of what he was capable of. Yet she kept saying she wouldn't leave.

Demons like him didn't deserve angels like her.

His kisses grew more desperate, trying to prove something, trying to say what he couldn't with words.

She was trying to keep up but she was gasping for breath, her head spinning as he finally broke away, trailing his mouth down her chest, murmuring out muffled words as he moved across her skin.

"Stay. Stay with me. Don't leave me."

* * *

"Liz" Damon smiled.

He sauntered through the grounds of the old Lockwood property. It was a common meeting spot for them, away from the town, a private place for council members to discuss private things without the chance of being overheard.

"Damon, honey. I heard about your car." she said.

Liz fidgeted with the belt of her sheriff's uniform, trying to keep the illusion of calm. She was waiting for the right moment, making sure he came alone.

"Yeah, the official story is frayed wires sparked in the engine, but you know it was him."

"So do you think the Wolf is in town?"

"Probably getting someone else to do his dirty work for now, but yeah, I think he's on his way. I have a feeling he's going to want to see me face to face."

"And Caroline? He'll bring her with him."

"We've pretty much guaranteed it. Before, I would have said he'd keep her locked up somewhere far away. But now that Grayson Gilbert captured his little sister, I think that he'll want to bring his bargaining chip with him."

"Is that all Caroline is? A bargaining chip?"

"To him, yes. But not to us. We need to draw him in with the sister, ambush him as a group, and then kill him. After we kill him, you'll have her back."

"Actually, Damon, that's not how this is going to play out."

He shot her a confused look.

"I don't want to kill him. Not yet."

"Why? Liz, he's off the deep end. He basically told me he's not going to stop until he kills me."

"But not because of the council. Not because of this war."

"What else would it be?"

"I didn't tell you he came to my house. He gave me a phone so I could talk to Caroline and make sure she was ok. He didn't ask for a ransom, didn't threaten to hurt her. He walked away when I gave him a reason to kill me. Why would he do that for some hostage?"

Damon glanced around, as if he was mapping out an escape.

She drew her gun.

"Liz?" Damon's voice cracked. "Whatever you're thinking..."

"I know."

"Liz, I can explain."

"I know. Don't try to talk your way out of it. I know what you did to my daughter. And he knows too. Doesn't he?"

Damon fumbled with his pockets. He didn't bother bringing any weapon with him for what he thought would be a routine information exchange. No one was within shouting distance. He was cornered.

"Doesn't he?"

"No. This is about Council business, not Caroline. I didn't do-"

A bullet cracked through the tree next to him, causing Damon to jump in surprise.

"Lie. Next time you lie to me it's going in your gut."

Damon shrank back, cautiously eyeing his former ally and friend. She was looking at him with flames in her eyes. He had never seen Liz so full of rage and yet she was still in control.

"Ok. Yes. He knows. Are you going to kill me now?"

"No."

He exhaled and relaxed a little bit.

"But I am going to make sure you stay in town so he can find you."

"Switching teams, Liz? The council will have your head for siding with the Mikaelsons. You can't just leave the council."

"I'm not, Damon. You are."

"What?"

"While you were out I planted some very interesting things in your bedroom. It turns out that Mayor Lockwood just found out that someone inside the council has been stealing money from the Fell funds and selling secrets to the Petrova family. I held a secret meeting yesterday with the top people and told them I saw you get into a car with Tatia Petrova. They're in your house right now."

"You bitch. You lying bitch, they'll never believe you."

"I think the stacks of marked bills directly from the Fell account and the rather incriminating emails on your computer might convince them. They'll find a bag packed like you were ready to skip town."

"They have no reason to suspect me. I can convince them I was set up."

"Oh really? So after weeks of you telling anyone who would listen that Niklaus Mikaelson has a personal vendetta against you, after showing the council what he did to your room, they won't wonder why he's after you? I think you working with his former fiancee would explain the rage he feels towards you personally. Unless you want the truth to come out and for everyone to know what a coward you are for what you did to my daughter. She was only a teenager. I trusted you."

"My father runs the council."

"No, your father is one of many people who run the Council. And after I just shredded your credibility, I doubt very much he'll be very influential in the future. Not as long as you're around."

"You won't get away with this."

Liz checked her phone. "It looks like I already did. You're out of the Council, Damon. You no longer have our protection, but because you're assumed to be working with the Petrova's, no one is going to let you leave town."

He snarled at her, wanting to rip her head off, but at the same time knowing that any outburst would only worsen his situation.

Liz started to walk away, then paused and turned around.

"You feel helpless, don't you? Trapped, afraid? I hear he likes to use a knife. That's a slow way to die. Although not as slow as the way you almost killed my daughter. I wonder if he'll bring his brother Kol along. Rumor has it that one likes to beat men to death with a baseball bat."

"Liz, please. We've been friends for years. Don't do this. Don't just walk away."

She turned around and got dangerously close to him.

"You seem to mistake my letting you live today for some kind of passive behavior. I am not walking away. I am waiting. I am waiting for the Wolf to bring my daughter back, and when he does, I know he'll find you. I could blow your brains out in these woods but that wouldn't be half as satisfying as what he'll do to you. And if I find out where they have you, I won't be walking away. I'll be joining in with a pair of hedge clippers."

* * *

Caroline sat on the edge of the bathtub, watching the water rise. As she ran her fingers under the faucet she thought back to earlier. He had never looked so exposed, so raw with worry. Every look he gave her cut through her skin and right into her heart. He had been so convinced that she would run away from him.

Now she understood that stepping into that room, that art studio, was like stepping into his mind. She went somewhere he had never allowed another person to go, and the vulnerability was more than he could bear.

He kept begging her not to leave. First he was saying it. But then he was touching her, pulling her to his bedroom, kissing her with a desperation and need that made her knees week. Every touch was a desperate plea for her to stay with him.

He was taking control, guiding her down onto the bed, leaning over her, sliding his hands under her clothes and caressing her until she was whimpering for him to take them off.

When the first orgasm hit her, it was just his hands. Still it was more powerful than anything she had experienced with the men before him. He was playing to his strengths, trying to prove himself in the the ways he knew he could.

Then he was inside her and it was building up again. She blushed just thinking of all the things she blurted out as he moved expertly inside her, winding her up for more. Eventually it was just his name over and over again.

She leaned against the cool tile of the shower wall, trying to calm the heat rising up at the mere memory of it. He was an addiction. There was nothing in the world like being with him.

She walked back into the bedroom and crawled across the bed to where he was still asleep, naked and sprawled out on his stomach. She gently moved her hand up and down his scar covered back, then dragged her nails up and down it lightly.

He hummed out an appreciative noise and his eyes opened slightly.

She swung a leg over his side and kissed from the base of his spine all the way up his back and to his neck.

"Wake up." she said, tracing scars and occasionally stopping to kiss them. "We slept for eleven hours."

He sat up on his elbows to look at the clock. It was true. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept so long.

"You wore me out." he joked. "And why do I hear running water?"

"I'm drawing a bath. Get ready to be spoiled."

"Sweetheart, what's the meaning of all this?"

"I told you I hate it when you call me that."

"I thought you liked me just as I am." he teased.

"I see you're feeling better. And yes I do. Now is there anything in this bathroom that can make bubbles?"

"Why would I want to make bubbles?"

"Baths are more fun with bubbles."

"The only baths I've ever taken were in ice." he scoffed.

"Why would you do that to yourself?" she asked, shifting herself so she was laying down next to him.

"It's good for sore muscles. One time, I can recall, was after a particularly nasty encounter with your ex." he said.

"Tyler?"

"Damon." he said, spitting out the name like a curse. "He and Kol got into a scrap, it escalated, the Fell brothers came in, I dropped in to pull Kol out and ended up hanging from a meat hook with a dislocated shoulder and a few broken ribs."

"He broke your ribs?" she asked.

"With a fire poker. Not that it matters much, I've done just as much to him. He probably would have done worse if Elijah and his men hadn't swooped in to get Kol and myself out of that mess."

She touched along his side tracing his ribs.

He moved her hand to where it was, knowing she was trying to imagine where the injury would have been.

She traced the spot with one hand while touching her own side with the other.

"He broke my rib once too." she said, shaking her head. It was almost funny, the irony of it. "The official hospital report was something along the lines of I fell down a flight of stairs."

"That's different." he said, his eyes going dark. "I was on an even playing field, those things are part of what we do. With you... You didn't deserve any of it. None of it was your fault. You were innocent, and smaller and you didn't have a way to defend yourself. He should have been put down by those who knew what he did to you. They're all despicable for letting him go on, knowing what they know. If I found out one of the men who worked for me did what he did, their head would be on a spike. Even in this world, people like him are the lowest level of scum."

He pulled her closer, then found the spot she had touched on her own ribs. He cupped his hand over it. He thought back to the crack and split of bone, of the kind of pain that made breathing feel like a constant knife stabbing into your side. The kind of pain that made you wish to lose consciousness. He had spent years of conditioning, learning to handle elevated pain levels. He knew the whole time that someone was coming in to save him. And he still remembered how much it hurt. He tried to fathom just how much worse it was for her, and how frightened she must have been. He imagined her having to lie to the doctors while her attacked loomed in the hospital room. He imagines all the people who chose not to see what was right in front of them. He wanted to set the whole town on fire.

"Let's not talk about him." she said, trying to smooth down the anger she could see building in him. The memories of the terrifying life she had under Damon's control weren't as scary and painful as they used to be. Somehow, in her short time with Klaus, she found a way to think about that time, even talk about it, and not feel the panic and dread she used to feel. The nightmares were gone. For the first time in years, she felt safe.

She carefully untangled herself from Klaus, not wanting to get up and move away, but worried the bathtub might overflow if she stayed in bed much longer.

"There's a bath that's almost ready, and I'm going to go find something to make it bubbly."

She kissed the side of his face and walked out of the room.

He watched her leave, and his thoughts drifted back to Mystic Falls. If she let him, he would wipe out every one of them that turned a blind eye. But for now he was content to just get rid of Damon, and soon.

* * *

Katherine sat on the arm of the couch, one leg draped across where Elijah sat next to her. She bit her lip as she concentrated, pulling the fabric through the loop.

"And then the part you're holding tucks through there, and pull." he said.

She followed along and gave it one final tug.

"I did it!" she said, clapping her hands in excitement.

"And that's how you tie a tie."

"I think I'm pretty good at it."

"Keep it up and I'm going to want you to do that for me every morning."

"Do you have to wear a tie every day? What's wrong with jeans and a t-shirt?"

"I'm not a farmer, Katherine."

"You're such an old man."

"Oh really, could an old man do this?"

With one swoop, he lifted her up and flipped her down on the couch, pinning her arms over her head.

She tried to struggle free of his grasp, but he had her pinned.

She wiggled her head to reach the tie that dangled down over her and bit it, tugging on it to pull his face closer to hers.

"You're an animal." he deadpanned. "That's Prada."

"Mmmhmm." she agreed, wiggling around the couch for a better angle before tilting her chin up to kiss him.

His hands let go of hers and slid down her sides and she wrapped her newly freed hands around his neck, fingers twirling against his skin as their lips moved against each other.

""I think you should take it off so I can practice tying it again." she said casually, hooking a leg around him and tracing her foot along the back of his leg. "In fact, why don't you just take everything off and we can-"

A loud bang on the door made them both jump.

Then there was a key clicking in the lock.

"I'm coming in so you better be clothed!" Kol shouted.

"I seriously regret giving him a key." Elijah muttered, helping Katherine sit up and smoothing out his clothing.

Kol stormed in, not bothering to give them a moment.

"Well, now I can see why you haven't been answering your phone. I suspect Niklaus is also ignoring his for similar reasons."

"Kol what is the meaning of this?" Elijah demanded.

"Bekah's in serious trouble."

"How serious?"

"Mystic Falls. Kidnapping. How's that for serious?"

"Explain. Now." Elijah snipped.

"Apparently when she said she was in Spain, she was actually sniffing around Mystic Falls. Probably to try to acquire the younger Salvatore brother herself, since we all turned her down on it and you know how she takes not getting her way. She stayed in town, it seems, to spend time with a young man. Typical Bekah."

"Who's our source?" Elijah asked.

"The young man himself, though Jeremy. I sent Jere in to set off the bomb for Niklaus. He went to visit a friend, and said the friend was in a panic over his new girlfriend going missing when she went out for an errand in his truck. The vehicle was abandoned at a traffic light, keys in the ignition, door open, engine still running. It was Bekah. Someone took her."

"Is he council? The boy?"

"No. Jere says he's from a poor family, first generation to live in town. There's no connection. Jeremy insists the boy is harmless and has no knowledge of what's going on. For now, we thought best to keep it that way. Jeremy's doing damage control, keeping the boy from telling the police or anyone else."

"I'll be the judge of how harmless this boy is." Elijah said.

"Who is he?" Katherine asked.

Both Mikaelson brothers looked at her skeptically.

"I'm from Mystic Falls, remember? Hello? That scout you're taking about it my baby brother."

"Right." Kol said, shaking his head. "Does the name Matt Donavan mean anything to you?"

"Oh, Matty!" Katherine smiled.

Elijah stiffened up at the familiar, nostalgic tone she used.

"Matt's a really good guy. Whatever went on with him and your sister, he would never have taken advantage of her. He's spent half his life taking care of his own sister and mother when they've been in and out of rehab. He's a hard worker and a really good friend."

"Is he a good friend to the Salvatores?" Elijah asked. "I have a nasty feeling they're behind this."

"No." Katherine replied. "He's on ok terms with Stefan, but he hates Damon. And Tyler and Jeremy were always his closest friends, and both of them work for you. He won't be a problem."

Elijah pulled out a paper and started jotting down notes.

"We'll get Niklaus over here to map out a plan, then we'll send a stealth team in. He'll want to cover the Salvatore house, since he's already been inside. Kol, see if you can get Jeremy to find out where the council's meeting next. I'll move in through the woods on the east end of the town."

"I can help." Katherine offered.

"The information you've provided was sufficient." Elijah said.

"No. I can help. I'm going with you"

"You're doing no such thing."

"Your main target is Damon Salvatore, right?"

"Yes, and he has some kind of romantic relationship with your sister. Or perhaps the other Salvatore does, and Damon's just inappropriately close with his brother's girl. Either way, a bit of a conflict of interest for you." Kol pointed out.

"My twin sister." Katherine said.

"You're only proving my point." Kol responded.

"No. You're not listening. My twin. As in, we look the same."

"Ohhhh." Kol said. He glanced over at Elijah.

"Absolutely not." Elijah replied.

"I can pull it off." Katherine protested.

"This could be the element of surprise we need." Kol suggested.

"No." Elijah shook his head.

"I want in. Let me be part of this." Katherine pushed.

"Call Niklaus." Elijah said to Kol. "See if we can figure something better out."

* * *

"I don't like the bubbles." Klaus said.

"How can you not like bubbles? They're fun. That's their entire purpose. Do you not like fun?" Caroline asked.

She was in the water, sitting across from him, their legs overlapping under the water.

"I can't see what's going on under them. It's like you're wearing a blanket in the bathtub."

"You spent all last night and all morning _seeing_. I haven't worn clothes since you got back."

He traced his hand along her leg under the water.

Caroline scooped up a bunch of bubbles and plopped them on top of his head. She giggled at how silly he looked, earning a scowl from him.

"Your scary face doesn't work when you're wearing a bubble hat."

"I thought the point of this bath nonsense was to feel pampered, not like a imbecile."

"Fine, grouchy." she teased, wiping the bubbles off his head. "Here, let me get your hair."

She scooped up some water to wet his hair and then found a bottle of shampoo sitting on the side of the tub. She shifted closer to him and massaged the shampoo into his scalp.

"That's nice." He murmured, leaning his head down to make it easier to reach. He locked his arms around her back and shifter her closer so she was sitting on his lap.

Her fingers trailed through the back of his head, rubbing little circles.

"Alright, tilt your head back, I'm going to rinse this out." she said.

He played along and she sat up on her knees to lean over him and rinse out his hair, checking through to make sure she got all the suds out.

"Now this is more what I had in mind." he said, clearing away the bubbles that were stuck to her skin. Her chest was up at his eye level as she rinsed his hair.

His mouth was trailing across her chest.

"Klaus, I... I..." she stammered out, trying to concentrate.

His mouth closed over a nipple, twirling it with his tongue.

She was attempting to smooth out his hair, but his motions made her gasp out and forget what she was doing.

His mouth left her, trailing across her chest to the other side, sending a chill where the cool air hit her wet skin.

Her hand grabbed the side of the tub to steady herself, feeling wobbly from the way his hands raked over her as his lips traveled across her chest.

He pulled her back down to him and she could feel how hard and ready he was. The water was splashing over the edges, cooling as their bodies heated up, sending shivers down their backs.

She reached down and felt him, ready to guide him to her, but he pulled away, not wanting to be in a position that gave him so little control.

He pulled her up and stepped out, helping her over the edge of the tub.

"Where are we-"

"Here." he said, moving her in front of the full length mirror along one wall.

She swallowed, a little uncomfortable with how exposed she was, standing naked and looking at her own reflection.

Then he was behind her, and she felt his arousal pushing into her back as he moved his hands up and down her body.

She closed her eyes at the feeling of his hands gliding over wet skin.

"Keep them open. I want you to watch me touch you."

Her stomach did a flip. This felt dangerous but oh so good. She could see his hand over her breast, see his face in the mirror, eyes dark with desire as he watched himself touch her, watched her reactions.

Then his other hand was sliding down her stomach as his foot hooked between hers, nudging her legs apart. She gasped as he reached her core, fingers stroking her gently.

She arched her back, pressing firmly against his hard length, and he sucked in a breath and moved his fingers faster against her. She was in a trance, watching her own body move against him, watching him work, seeing the way he made her shake.

Then he broke away and moved in front of her. He moved one of her hands to hold a towel rack on the wall next to her and the other to a countertop.

She wondered what he was bracing her for but he was already on the ground in front of her, hooking one of her legs over his shoulder.

She held on tight as she tried to keep from falling over with only one foot on the ground.

Then his mouth was on her.

She shuddered and shook, trying hard to stay upright while he made her dizzy with pleasure.

The feeling of his tongue on her was more than she could bear, and she couldn't stop the breathy noises falling from her lips.

She was almost there, starting to wobble on her foot as her knee buckled. Then he pulled back up, gently setting her back on both feet. She knew he was playing with her, prolonging it when he could have easily let her come. He was going to let it all build up.

She decided to give him a taste of his own medicine, putting her hand out to stop him when he tried to move behind her again, picking up where he left off. Instead, she motioned for him to stay still, and kneeled down in front of him.

She moved her hand up and down his length, then paused before licking just the tip.

He groaned and held on to her hair.

She toyed with him, running her tongue up and down his length, moving her hands across his body, before finally taking all of him in her mouth.

He glanced at the mirror, at her perfectly curved back, at her head bobbing as she slid him in and out of her mouth.

He knew he couldn't take much more before it would all be over, so he pulled her up and spun her around so her hands landed on the mirror.

"Watch." he commanded.

His hand ran down her back, tilting her forward just a little, then she felt his hand on her again, his foot nudging her legs further apart, and then she could feel his length between her legs, rubbing against her.

She whimpered and rocked her hips back, begging him.

Then he found her entrance, and as his hand moved against her most sensitive spot, he pushed inside of her.

She was overwhelmed by it, crying out as she felt him move inside her.

He kissed along her neck, glancing up to watch how her body reacted to him. He caught her watching too and loved the thrill of it, of watching her enjoy the sight of his hands all over her body as she rocked against him, calling out his name as he moved inside her.

"Klaus." she stammered.

He thrust into her harder, making her gasp out as her sweaty palm slipped against the fogging mirror.

"Caroline." he groaned. He was so close, he couldn't hold out much longer, but he wanted to make her come first.

"Klaus...I ...I.." she stuttered.

His hand worked furiously at her center as pumped into her, increasing the speed, feeling her skin vibrate under his hands as she began to shake.

"I can feel that you're ready. Just let go. Now, Caroline."

She whimpered, rocking her hips back harder, feeling it begin.

"Now, Caroline. Come for me."

She sucked in her breath, feeling his length hit just the right spot, sending shivers down her body as his hand stroked her expertly. An explosion of pleasure ripped through her body.

"Klaus!" she screamed, shaking violently.

He pushed harder, slamming against her as she rode out the waves of pleasure, pushing her closer against the steamed mirror.

He let go and felt the pleasure course through him.

"Caroline." he groaned, jerking forward as his orgasm ran through him.

She leaned against the damp wall as she caught her breath and he panted to catch his, resting a hand against her back.

"That was... wow." she stammered.

"You're right." he said. "Baths are fun."

* * *

Rebekah looked around at her unfamiliar surroundings. This wasn't the doctor's office where she had passed out. They dragged her somewhere new.

It was dark and damp and smelled like earth and mildew. She figured she was underground, perhaps in some kind of basement. The structure looked old, made of stone instead of the more modern concrete.

"Don't scream." someone said calmly. "I have to tie a gag in your mouth if you do."

She tried her arms, but they were tied to chains that were bolted into the wall. She was stuck.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked, scanning the figure in the dim room.

"I'm just doing what I'm told." Stefan muttered. "I don't want anyone to get hurt."

"You're going to be the one who gets hurt if you don't let me go." she said, struggling with her chains.

"Don't bother, they're reinforced for up to five thousand pounds of pressure. And I've got plenty of those sedatives to knock you out again if I need to."

"My brothers will come for me."

"We're counting on it." he shrugged. "I assume they know an oppurtunity for a trade of hostages when they see one."

"We don't have any hostages."

"I know you do. Your brother took my friend."

"Which brother?"

"The Wolf. He kidnapped Caroline Forbes and tried to make it look like they both died."

"Ugh." she groaned. "You think Caroline's a hostage? What idiot is gathering information for you?"

A flicker of uncertainty flashed behind Stefan's eyes.

"You really are in over your head, aren't you Salvatore? You know, a lot of people are going to die when my people come for me."

"No one has to get hurt."

"You really are new at this. Someone always has to get hurt. The game is constant. The round isn't over until theres blood on the ground."

Stefan looked away from her.

"But your brother would know all about that." she continued. "You think you can stay noble and be part of this? Your hands won't stay clean forever. You either die or you become just as bad as the rest of us."

He looked straight at her, hearing every word. She knew it hit home, but he couldn't find anything to say in response.

They sat in silence until the next guard came to take over Stefan's shift.

* * *

His phone rattled, forgotten on some table in another room. Klaus and Caroline were picking through the tv channels for something to watch, empty bowls of food on the coffee table in front of them.

"That's the tenth call since dinner." Caroline said.

"I'm not answering it. Whatever it is can wait until tomorrow."

"Really? Because they've been calling nonstop. I'm starting to think you have another girlfriend." she teased.

"Caught me." He grinned. "There's this impossibly demanding blonde. Maybe you've met her? Neurotic, bossy little thing from Mystic Falls."

"Very funny." she said, swatting at him playfully. "But seriously. You should answer. What if it's Henrik or something?"

"Henrik hates the phone. If he wants to talk it'll be on the computer."

"Then maybe your sister? When's the last time you heard from her?"

He thought back. It had been a while, and Bekah usually called him every few days with some kind of demand or just looking for someone to rant to.

"I guess I could just check to make sure it's not an emergency. Although with Bekah, a chipped nail is an emergency."

The phone rang again.

"Just answer it this time!"

He made a sad puppy face at her and she shook her head.

"None of that face! Answer your phone so whoever it is will stop calling."

He tried pouting again then gave up and trudged across the apartment to pick up his cell.

"Elijah? What?" He said, pulling the phone away from his ear to deflect his brother's shouts.

Caroline peered over the back of the sofa to where he stood in the hall, his expression quickly changing from one of annoyance to fury.

He scooped up his keys on the way back to where Caroline sat.

"Change of plans, sweetheart. We need to go to Elijah's. Right now."


	19. Chapter 19

"Katherine gets to go and I don't?" Caroline whined.

"She's only going because she looks exactly like Elena. And Elijah's going to be practically useless with his watching her, I'm not going to do the same." Klaus replied.

"I can help."

"No."

"I know the area, the people! This isn't fair."

"Too bad, sweetheart. You're not going."

"We're not on the island anymore. You don't get to just tell me what to do."

"I'm not entertaining your foolish notion of putting your life in danger. You stay here. End of discussion."

"Klaus!" She protested.

He just shook his head, unwilling to continue the conversation.

They made it to the front steps of the Mikaelson mansion. Elijah and Kol were waiting in the car, along with Katherine and a few other members of the team. The rest of the people going on the mission had already left for the airport.

"I need you to promise to stay here and wait for me to return. Don't do anything foolish. Just stay here."

"Klaus. I'm not some damsel in distress. I can look out for myself, just let me help."

"Look. My mother is off doing damage control with the Petrovas again. If anything goes wrong with us pulling Bekah out, we'll need their support on this, and things aren't great with them so she has to be the one to go there. She'll be back from Bulgaria in a few days. I called Alaric and he's bringing Henrik back in an hour or so. Stay here with them. Please, Caroline."

"But if you just let me, I can help you get Rebekah-"

"No! There's already one person I love in danger right now, I can't handle having to worry about another. If anything happened to you-"

"What did you say?" she whispered.

He flinched, realizing what he had just said.

"Perhaps this is something that's best for another time." he said, trying to steer her into the house.

"No. Klaus. What did you just say?" she challenged, holding her ground.

"You know. You must know, I don't have to say it for you to know."

"Other people have said it who didn't mean it. It's just words. But if you mean it, say it. Say it now before you leave. If you're going to force me to stay here, at least let me know." Caroline said.

"I've never said it to anyone, no one but family." Klaus said.

"You've never been..."

"I was engaged once. It was an arranged thing. But I didn't... It wasn't like that with her. Elijah and her, they felt something for each other, at least for a while. I saw it all fall apart, this alliance we carefully mapped out. All for this thing I thought was so stupid and pointless and I didn't understand it. But I get it now."

"Are you sure what you feel is-"

"I love you." he blurted out.

She stared blankly back at him, knowing he was working up to saying it but still stunned by the words coming out of his mouth.

"I love you, Caroline. And please don't say anything. You've already promised me you won't leave and that's enough. I can wait as long as it takes for you to love me back. Perhaps someday, in a year or-"

"I already do."

"That... that's not possible. Just go inside the house, and I'll see you soon."

"No. Let me say this."

"Don't say it just because you think it's what I want to hear."

"I love you, Klaus. I love you so much."

He looked down, trying to hold back what he was feeling. No one had ever said it before.

She put her hands on the sides of his face so he was looking at her.

"I love you. You are exactly who I want. And don't do that thing you do by trying to push it away. You deserve love. Do you understand me?"

He nodded.

"And you come back as soon as you get Rebekah. Because I need you to come back."

"I'll be back soon. You won't even have time to miss me."

"I already do."

He hugged her tight.

"Can you say it once more?" he asked quietly.

"I love you." she responded, and she could feel him hold on a little tighter.

"I love you more." he said.

He took a step back and glanced at the car waiting for him.

"Don't say goodbye. I'll see you later." he said.

"I'll see you later." she agreed.

He nodded and walked into the car.

Caroline watched it drive away and felt sick to her stomach. When it was gone she went into the house and went to his bedroom, kicking off her shoes and pulling the sheets over her head.

* * *

Klaus looked out the window as the plane took off. Everyone was strapped in for lift off, they would wait until the plane had leveled out to get up and move around. He turned to his side and saw his brother holding hands with the Gilbert girl.

Katherine made him nervous. She had just shown up out of nowhere and they were trusting her too fast. At least her brother was with them, and he had been vetted in an extensive process. Jeremy wouldn't be a problem. And they could threaten bodily harm to him if she ended up betraying them. At least they had something over her.

He wondered if Rebekah was injured. They would be foolish to lay a hand on her, but still. It was possible. There was no way they would have killed her just yet, she was far too valuable as a hostage.

But still. He was on a plane going over the ocean, and there was someone on either side of that ocean that he couldn't live without. He needed Rebekah to be safe. He needed Caroline to continue to trust him, to accept who he was. He needed her to be there when he got back.

Elijah went up into the pilot's cabin once the plane leveled, taking Katherine with him. Kol was left to his own devices, and looking bored, so he scooted in next to Klaus.

"You had quite a long talk on the porch as we were leaving."Kol teased.

"I was just... reassuring her about everything."

"Looked a little different from where I was sitting. Your combined body language suggested that maybe she was the one reassuring you."

"Kol..."

"You know I can read lips. I know what you said to her."

"Can we just drop it?"

"Is it true?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

Kol shrugged. "You're always the type to keep your cards close, I figured you might have other reasons. And you know the family words."

"I know what we say."

"Then you know why we say them."

"I'm not weak."

"I hope you know what you're doing." Kol shrugged. "Because there's us, and there's everyone else. She might have said those words to you, but that doesn't make her one of us. Not until she proves it."

"She had her chance to run. She stayed. And she said it back."

"There is always another chance to run. Be careful, Niklaus."

"You don't think it's real? You don't think she really means it?"

"Well it would be a first." Kol joked.

Klaus turned away, focusing on the window. It was a lighthearted comment, but it dug in deep.

Kol's expression softened.

"I didn't mean it like that."

Klaus stayed silent.

"Alright. I know. It's a big deal for you because of Father."

"He wasn't my father."

"I know. And I know he used it as a weapon. He never said it to you like he did with us. He would make mother afraid to say it to you around him."

"You don't have to remind me, Kol. I was there."

"Niklaus, I know you. I know you would doubt it even if no one said anything. He didn't love you so you don't think anyone else can. But we're your family. The rest of us can love you enough to balance him out. You don't need her."

"I do need her. I don't want to, but I do. And I did mean it. What I said to her."

Kol nodded. "Alright. Hey. We're brothers. It's my job to be concerned, but if this is what it is, I've got your back."

* * *

Caroline tried to sleep. It was the only thing that kept her brain from constantly spinning, wondering if he was ok. She managed to drift away a little, only to keep waking up again. His room smelled like him. It looked like him. It was his place in this house, the bedroom he had growing up and the room he slept in when he visited his mother. She had gone straight for this room instead of the guest rooms in the same hall. It felt too cold and impersonal to be anywhere else in the house.

She got out of the bed and looked around the room at all the little reminders of him. The clock on the nightstand blinked and she wondered why Alaric and Henrik hadn't woken her when they got back. They had probably been home for hours.

She padded down the stairs to look for them.

The place felt like a tomb, stifling her with it's ornate decorations and sterile furniture polish scented cleanliness.

She listened for Henrik's laughter, Alaric's booming voice, maybe the clattering of pots and pans or a tv. There was nothing. Silence.

Quiet footsteps down the hall broke the silence and Caroline ran towards them.

Marie the housekeeper looked startled, dropping the rag she was dusting with.

"Miss Caroline. I was told you would be here, would you like something to eat, my dear?"

"I was looking for Henrik and Alaric. Klaus told me they'd be here shortly after I arrived."

"I haven't seen them." Marie shrugged. "Let me check with the gate."

She dialed an number and asked the man guarding the gate if the youngest Mikaelson and his tutor had arrived.

"That's strange, they haven't been in the house at all." Marie muttered.

"What?" Caroline asked.

"They arrived several hours ago, and Alaric left alone about a half hour after that. Henrik must be wandering around outside."

Caroline thanked her and walked out to the back yard to find Henrik.

She went to the stables first, expecting to see him brushing the horses or playing with his camera. But he wasn't there and the stable hand who was working hadn't seen him.

She tried the shooting range next. Empty.

Something wasn't right. A nasty feeling snaked through her gut.

Caroline was running through the property, franticly looking for him. There was no sign. No one had seen him.

She tried to map out where Henrik could be without any of the guards or workers laying eyes on him. The only person who had seen him was the man at the gate. Alaric was gone.

She ran through the driveway to the little garage off to the side. It was empty except for a few of Elijah's antique cars.

She paced around the room, trying to think of where else to look, when the row of keys dangling from the wall caught her eye.

She grabbed all of them and sorted through to match them with the cars. She unlocked the trunk of the first one and found nothing but a spare tire. The second one was the same.

Then she saw the key that had been thrown on the ground and bent to pick it up.

She fit the key into the lock above the trunk of the third car.

_You're crazy, _she thought. _This is crazy. Henrik probably snuck out to do whatever teenagers sneak out to do. You're overreacting. _

But the trunk flipped open and she looked down at bloodied body.

* * *

Jeremy opened the door. On the other side were three Mikaelson brothers and his own sister Katherine.

"Were you seen?" he asked, scanning the empty hall.

"No. We didn't take the roads into town. We came through the woods, like you said." Kol said.

Jeremy nodded and motioned for them to come in.

A young man was sitting on the couch, tapping his foot nervously. He jumped up as the unfamiliar men approached him.

Klaus circled around the boy, studying his appearance.

"Keep him in here until we get Bekah. He doesn't leave. He doesn't make calls." Klaus said, refusing to bother with an introduction. Bekah's latest boy toy was just that. Her toy. Nothing more.

"I want to help!" Matt protested. "Jeremy, tell them I can help!"

Klaus ignored him and turned to Kol.

"Handcuffs?" he asked, holding out his palm.

Kol fished through his pockets and pulled out a pair.

Klaus motioned to Matt and the two of them approached him.

"Hey! No! Jeremy, tell them!" Matt protested.

Jeremy shot him a guilty look as he watched the Mikaelsons drag Matt into the bathroom and cuff him to a pipe.

"Why are you doing this? I let you in my apartment, I told Jeremy everything."

"Thanks, mate. We'll take it from here." Kol said, clapping him on the back and moving out of the room.

Klaus stayed a moment longer, his eyes fixed on a glare as he scanned Matt. This was the latest boy his sister fell all over herself for? He was so ordinary.

"Please. Jeremy will tell you I can be trusted. Just let me help." Matt protested, pulling at the handcuffs.

Klaus crouched down close to him.

"Do you think for a second I give a damn about what the Gilbert boy has to say about you? My sister was taken by people you live among. She was in your truck, leaving your apartment. So pardon me if I don't trust you as far as I can throw you. I will get her back. Without any help from you. And if I find out you were the one who sold her out I will break every bone in your body before I kill you."

He got up and slammed the door behind him.

* * *

The brothers gathered around Matt's kitchen table, as Jeremy went over protocol with his sister in the other room.

"You knew he wasn't the one to sell Bekah to the council." Elijah said.

"So now I can't scare Bekah's suiters? We used to have such fun doing that together." Klaus said.

"He's clean. We checked. If there's a way to use him, we should take the opportunity."

"Katherine already offered herself up for that. We'd be foolish to think the boy would have the same ability to lure in Salvatore."

Elijah looked down, dejected. He had agreed to the plan, but he still didn't like it.

"The boy's never done anything nefarious in his life." Kol pointed out. "While your little girlfriend has quite a history living on the fringe of society. She's got a nose for this kind of thing."

"I still think there must be another way." Elijah begged.

"There's not. It's our best chance to lure out Damon. You know he's staying in public places by now, where we can't make a scene. They expect us to come for Bekah." Klaus said.

"We can't kill Damon until we get Rebekah. If we kill him before we get to her, they could kill her in retaliation." Elijah said.

"And how do you expect me to kill him after we get her? The element of surprise will be completely shot to hell." Klaus challenged. "At this point I'd rather get Bekah out, then come back and deal with Damon some other time."

"You think it'll be so easy? That he'll just be waiting for your return? the council will tighten up their defenses after we get Bekah, They'll be ready for the next attack." Elijah said.

"They we'll have to do it at the same time. Split up." Kol offered.

"We're outnumbered in this place. If they sense us here and organize-" Elijah said.

"We won't give them time to organize. It has to be quick." Klaus said. "Kol's right. They won't expect two groups at once. They know us. They know we stick together."

"Katherine will lure Damon, and as soon as I have him, she goes straight back to the hanger." Klaus said. "I'll handle him alone. The rest of you go to Bekah at the same time. Just get her out of here quickly, and don't wait for me. Get her on that plane with or without me."

"We don't leave each other behind." Kol said.

Jeremy and Katherine brought crates over to join the discussion at the table, waiting for further instructions.

"The team is waiting in the wings. I can put Bekah in a secure car and send her back, then we double back for you. It'll give you time to do whatever it is you need to do with him." Elijah suggested.

"Why is tormenting Salvatore so bloody important? Can't you just put a bullet in his brain and be done with it? Kol protested.

Jeremy and Katherine exchanged a knowing glance. Neither one of them was comfortable with their sister's belief in second chances and redemption when it came to the older Salvatore brother. Even through neither of them was close to her, they still worried about her ongoing relationship with someone so volatile.

"You two know." Kol said. "Niklaus, why don't I know? You tell the Gilberts about something and you don't tell me? What's the new spat with Salvatore really about?"

"I didn't say anything. They lived here, I assume his reputation precedes him."

Klaus locked eyes with Jeremy, then looked over to Katherine. They lived here, they knew her. Of course they knew about it. He shook his head, indicating that he didn't want them to speak of it.

"Is this really the game? I don't get to know?" Kol demanded.

"Remember Latvia?" Jeremy asked him. "The man you took an extra three days on?"

Kol nodded curtly. He and Jeremy had planned on making quick work of a mid level member of a rival group on the Eastern European front, but then they invaded the man's house and found starving, bruised children shivering in a locked room in the basement. Kol had Jeremy get the kids out and he stayed behind to kill the man slowly. They were in the business of pain, but some people crossed a line. Kol understood that some people deserved more pain than others.

"It's kind of like that." Jeremy said. "You taught me the code. Trust me, he doesn't deserve something quick."

"Is it kids?" Kol asked Klaus.

Klaus shook his head.

"And it's not family..." Kol said.

Klaus stared back at him, teeth set, jaw clenched.

"It's her, isn't it? Niklaus, what did he do to her?"

"Just let me have this." Klaus said.

Kol nodded. "Alright. Yeah, I got it. You take care of Salvatore. The rest of us will get Bekah."

* * *

Caroline reached out to touch Henrik, fearing the worst. His face was matted with blood and his nose was bent at an odd angle.

He was warm, and she could feel a heartbeat.

She let out a sigh of relief, only to jolt back at the sound of a loud cough.

Henrik coughed again and spit a mouthful of blood.

"What... Caroline?" he asked.

"Hey." she smiled. "I was so worried about you."

"I'm ok. What are you doing here? Is Nik here?"

"No Klaus went to... Wait. Henrik. Where did Alaric go?"

"Alaric." He croaked out. "He... why did he... He told me he had to show me something, then he headbutted me. I think he broke my nose. I must have blacked out."

"He left."

"Why? I don't get... Oh no."

"What?"

"Is there a mission going on? Is something happening?"

"Your sister. Someone took her. Your brothers are going to Mystic Falls to get her back."

"He's going to sabotage the mission. Why didn't I see it? Why did we think we were the only ones sending spies in?" Henrik said, shaking his head.

"We have to call Klaus and warn him." she said.

"You won't reach him. They always keep their phones off for these types of missions. It makes them too easy to track. Some of our enemies use electromagnetic detection devices to see people coming or can tap into calls that are in close range."

"I can't just do nothing! Henrik, I have to warn him!"

"If anyone's going to go there, it'll be me. It's my family."

"You're just a kid."

"And you just learned how to hold a gun. I've been training for years."

"Then we'll both go."

"Not a chance. There's no way we can sneak out, and the guards won't let us just hop a car over to the airport."

"I'm not letting this happen. I'm not letting Klaus walk into a trap!"

"Maybe we can send one of the guards over. Unless... What if one of them is like Alaric? What if he's not the only one?

Caroline thought it over, trying to come up with something.

"I have a plan." Henrik said quietly. "Kol taught me something, I never used it. But I think it will work."

* * *

Caroline and Henrik walked back into the house, her arm around him as they laughed about some inside joke they made up on the spot. He kept his face tilted towards her so any housekeeper or guard wouldn't spot the blood.

They went straight to his room and he went to the bathroom to scrub his face.

"Caroline." he said, looking up at her with the same shy expression he always had, water dripping off his floppy hair.

"Yeah?"

"You ever set a bone before?"

"Yeah, because that's something most people do."

"My nose. It needs to snap back or everyone will notice. I can't see right to do it myself."

Caroline shook her head. "I can't. I can't do it."

"Yes you can. please. I need your help. I need to look normal if we're going to pull this off."

She took a deep breath and looked over his nose. There was a clear bend where it had broken. Pushing it back wouldn't be enough in the long run, but it would work for now."

"Ok, on the count of three."

She put her fingers on either side of the break.

"One."

She held her breath.

"Two."

Henrik closed his eyes.

"Three."

There was a grinding crunch and he grunted out in pain through gritted teeth. Caroline leaned against the wall to manage the queasy feeling in her stomach. Henrik took a few deep breaths, trying to fight through the pain.

"Ok. We're good. Ok." he said, tracing his finger down his nose. The shape felt right.

She looked up at him and wanted to cry.

"No we're not. Look in the mirror."

He looked and traced his fingers under his eyes as he stared back at his reflection. Deep purple bruises were forming under his eyes and along the sides of his nose.

"How am I supposed to..." he trailed off.

"Rebekah." Caroline said, suddenly relieved.

"Yeah, Rebekah, that's the whole point of this. Now how are we supposed to..."

"No. Rebekah has a room here. Her skin's about the same color as yours."

"So?"

"I'll be right back." Caroline said. "Just stay here."

She ran down the hall and barged into Rebekah's room, going straight for the bathroom counter. Each Mikaelson had a bathroom in their own room, and Rebekah's had a long counter riddled with beauty products.

Caroline dug through to find the foundations, concealers and powders. She found some green and yellow tinted color correctors and primers as well. She had hoped that Rebekah would be a beauty junkie but this makeup collection was a total jackpot.

Back in Henrik's room, she made him sit on the counter under a bright light so she could see what she was doing.

"If you ever tell anyone about me wearing makeup..." he grumbled.

"Don't be such a boy about it. It won't look like you're wearing anything at all."

"And you're some kind of expert with covering up bruises?" he challenged.

"Actually, I am." she said, looking down at the row of products.

Primer, tint to balance the color, concealer, foundation, set with powder.

It was a routine she knew well enough to do in her sleep, even if it had been a long time since she had needed it.

Henrik fidgeted and fought with her on it, but she managed to get it done, and by the time he turned to look in the mirror there was no sign of the bruises.

"Wow. You can't even tell." he said, smiling at his reflection.

Caroline patted his back and looked proudly at her work.

"Wait. Caroline. Why did you know how to..."

"That's a story for another time."

He gave her a sad look and nodded his head. She didn't need to say any more.

* * *

"We want ice cream." Caroline demanded.

"There's some in the kitchen, I'll go get-" Marie started.

"No. I want to go out for ice cream." Henrik said.

"Esther didn't want you leaving once you got back."

"Please? We just want to go into town, it's not that far." Henrik protested.

"Fine. You two can go, but you're going to have a guard go with you. And be back by dark."

The tiny ice cream shop in town was a charming little building in a quaint square that featured other old family businesses and small boutiques. It was a refreshing change of pace from the city that was only a few minutes away.

Caroline and Henrik had eventually agreed on her being the one to do it. She had her passport on her, and his was locked in his mother's study. Besides, he would attract more attention as an unaccompanied minor. Luckily, Henrik had a bundle of cash saved up, which Caroline vowed to pay back as soon as she returned.

Once they were out for ice cream, Caroline excused herself to go to the bathroom. They had picked this place because the old buildings were set up with large bathroom windows that went out to the alleys.

She climbed through the window and slipped down the street, hailing a cab and slipping into the night. She would be halfway to the airport before their guard got impatient enough to barge into the bathroom.

* * *

Klaus and Katherine stood outside the Mystic Grill.

"If you're planning on backing out, now would be the time." he said.

"I've got this." she replied.

He looked her over. Her hair had been straightened, her clothing changed to something Jeremy had slipped out of his sister's room. She looked the part.

"You're sure he'll think you're her?"

"My sister and I can convince our own parents. He'll buy it."

"Ok, just remember the plan. You lure him out to the old Lockwood property. I'll get to him before he has a chance to touch you. The second I show up, you run. A guard will be waiting just outside the clearing in the woods, he'll bring you back to the hanger, where you wait for the rest of us."

"I got it."

She started to walk away but he grabbed her arm.

"If you double cross me, there will be consequences." he said.

She nodded, took a deep breath and walked into the bar. He slunk back into the shadows.

* * *

Damon was at the bar nursing his fifth drink of the evening. It was all just a waiting game now. He heard from his brother that the Mikaelson girl was being held hostage. That meant the rest of them would be swooping in soon. If the wolf was planning on making a visit to kill him, now would be the time. Liz had crossed him and he was a sitting duck. He figured he might as well enjoy a few drinks while he still had the chance. He was safer here than at home.

"How many of those have you had?" she asked, tapping judgmental fingers on the bartop.

"Hey Elena. This is my first one."

"Liar."

"Fine. Third."

She stared him down.

"Ok, fifth. What is it with you and the look?"

"I need to talk to you. It's about Stefan."

He looked her over. She looked worried.

"Yeah, ok. what's going on?"

She looked around. "Not here. Follow me, ok?"

"Whatever it is, just say it here."

She looked around and leaned a little closer, lowering her voice. "Ok, it's not really about Stefan. It's more about... us. And I don't want anyone to hear. So just follow me?"

He got up and followed her out of the bar.

A few minutes later she slipped through the woods, a few steps ahead of him. He recognized she was taking him to the old Lockwood property. He didn't think Elena even knew about this place or what it had been used for. She wouldn't have set foot here since a party back in high school.

"Elena, what's going on?" He asked. "Just tell me."

She looked nervously around.

"Oh no." Damon muttered. "Katherine."

"You know, one time I tried this little trick with Stefan. He figured it out a lot faster."

"So what? You pretend to be Elena to lure me out here? Are you really that desperate to hook up with me? I don't like you. I will always chose Elena."

"Oh please, If I was going to hook up with one of you, it would be Stefan. Not you."

"He doesn't like you either, you druggie whore."

Katherine laughed.

"There it is. I'll always be the druggie whore to you people, right? Somehow my sister forgave you for what you did, but I'll always be the person they lock up the good silver around. Did you know that only one person from this whole town visited me in rehab, aside from my brother? We weren't even friends. I was terrible to her. But she came to visit me with that impossibly sunny disposition that always pissed me off, and she brought me candy and magazines and these ridiculous cartoon print pajamas. And she hugged me. She was the first person in weeks to touch me that wasn't a nurse holding me down to draw blood."

Damon's eyes darkened. He was too focused on Katherine to notice the figure creeping up silently behind him.

"And when I hugged her back a little too hard, she winced, like I was pushing on a bruise." Katherine finished. She stared him down, watching his fists curl up.

He took a step towards her.

Then a shovel slammed against the back of his head and he was knocked out.

"I thought he was going to hit me." Katherine said.

Klaus stood behind Damon, and nudged him with his foot. He was out cold.

"He'll never harm anyone again. You need to get out of here before he wakes up." he said.

She stayed still.

"You did good." he offered. "I'm sure Elijah will be impressed."

"Thanks." she breathed. "Ok. I'll see you back at the hanger. Is this the part where I wish you good luck?"

"I don't need luck." he scoffed.

She nodded and turned to leave.

"Was it true?" he asked "That little story about her?"

Katherine nodded. "Jere wasn't clean yet, so it was hard for him to visit me. When he did, I could almost smell it on him, it made me itch for another high. So he stopped coming, knowing it was best for both of us. No one else visited, not friends, not family. And just when I thought there wasn't a single person in the world who cared about me, she appeared. She was nice to me when she didn't have a reason or agenda. It was exactly what I needed, to see that there was still good in the world and that I could be happy again."

Klaus nodded, keeping his eyes on Damon's limp body.

"They say the first 24 hours out of rehab are the hardest. That every nerve in your body is aware that you can go out and use again. A single second doesn't pass without wanting to get your hands on something. Anything." Katherine said. "She brought me back to her mom's house and we had a sleepover. Like the ones she used to have with my sister when I was sneaking out the window to go hook up with random guys and get high in the woods. She made me eat junk food and watch awful romance movies and she held my hand when I felt shaky. She kept drinking coffee to stay awake in case I needed her. But she crashed eventually, and I looked at her sleeping on the couch, and her shirt rode up her back a bit. She was covered in bruises and bite marks. She was so worried about me and no one was looking out for her."

"Why didn't you help her?" he asked.

"I went to my sister first. She was her best friend." she said. "But you heard Damon. Who would believe me? I'm just some druggie whore."

She wiped away a tear. "Elijah asked me how I could be sure this is what I wanted. How I could be so willing to betray my town and family. They've already done worse to me. And to her. It's not difficult to turn your back on people who see you as less than human. I hope you make him suffer."

And with that, she turned and walked away.

* * *

Caroline ran through the airport and straight out through the automatic doors that led to the lines of cars waiting to pick people up. She scanned the rows and saw yellow in the distance.

She banged on the window and earned an annoyed glare from the driver.

"What?" He barked, not bothering to turn down his music. He cracked his window slightly.

"I need to get to Mystic Falls."

"That's an hour and forty five minutes away. I don't go that far."

She took a few hundreds out pressed them against the window.

"I'll add an extra hundred for every ten minutes you can shave off the trip time."

He took a beat to consider it.

"Get in." he barked.

The tires squealed as the cab ripped out of the parking lot.

* * *

Stefan checked through the blinds at the man on the back porch. He glanced back through the halls of the foreclosed home. Rebekah was chained up in a bedroom upstairs.

He took a deep breath and unlocked the door, stepping outside.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?"

"She's in here."

"Relax, I'm just messing with you."

"It's been a long time."

"Too long."

"Who told you where to find me?" Stefan asked.

"The usuals. I saw Doc Gilbert and your dad. I hear your brother's in a lot of trouble."

"He is. He doesn't have back up on this."

"That's why I'm here. Doc said he left the syringes with you."

"Yeah, I'm keeping her sedated as much as possible. The girl likes to talk." Stefan said, rolling his eyes.

"It's not the sedative I'm here for."

"Which syringe did you want?"

"You know which one."

Stefan bit his lip, nodding to himself. "Yeah, I'll go get it for you."

* * *

A few hours later, Rebekah was awake and feeling especially sassy.

"Stefan. I want a shower. You're going to have to unchain me sometime soon if you don't want me to smell like a vagrant."

"Really, I don't care what you smell like. I'm not interested in getting within smelling distance."

"Don't act like you aren't constantly thinking about what else we could be doing in this big empty house, all alone."

"Honestly, Rebekah, is that your best method? The old seduce your captor trick? I would have expected more from a Mikaelson."

She crossed her arms.

"Fine."

He crossed his arms and mimicked her facial expression.

"You're not funny." she huffed.

"It's a little funny." he shrugged.

"Just get me something to eat." she demanded.

"Oh, right away, your highness." He said, making an exaggerated bow as he ducked out of the room.

Stefan laughed to himself as he made his way to the kitchen, rummaging through cabinets for a can of soup. Just as he found one, he heard a noise. He closed the cabinet, and before he could turn around, an arm was around his neck and a finger pressed hard on a pressure point.

Kol dropped him unceremoniously to the ground with a loud thud.

"You could have just placed him gently." Elijah said.

"Where's the fun in that?" Kol protested. "Want me to behead him?"

"No, leave him for now. Lets find Bekah before we destroy a potential hostage."

"Right." Kol nodded. He looked outside to Jeremy, who was standing on the lawn with his gun ready. "In and out. Let's find our dear baby sister."

"Stefan, what's taking you so bloody long! I want something to eat now!" Rebekah shouted.

"Leave it to Bekah to be the world's most annoying hostage." Kol smirked.

Elijah was already halfway up the stairs.

Rebekah heard footsteps and looked to the doorway, expecting Stefan. Instead two of her brothers were smiling back at her.

"Hello." Elijah smiled.

"Miss me?" Kol quipped, holding up bolt cutters to free her from her chains.

* * *

Alaric held out the GPS tracker, scanning the wooded area around him.

"You should be right here." he muttered. "Where are you?"

He stepped on something hard and pulled his foot back.

Crouching down to the ground, he picked up the ring, turning it over in his hands. The heavy stone had a family crest embedded over it. Salvatore.

"There you are." he whispered.

He traced the patterns in the brush, finding the foot path that had gone in and out. A path was curved across the clearing as if something heavy had been dragged. He followed down the path until he heard muffled screams. Then he saw the old ruins and walked down the crumbling stone steps.

* * *

Klaus leaned back to look at his handiwork. Damon Salvatore's hands were tied over his head and attached to a chain suspended from the ceiling. He was bloody and beaten, but it was only just beginning. Salvatore hadn't even gotten to the point of begging for mercy. It was going to be a long night.

"How did you even find this place?" Damon grunted out.

Klaus dragged a knife across Damon's arm.

"Oh you'd be surprised what some old documents and public records would reveal."

"I have say, I wouldn't expect you to want to come here." Damon said. "After all, it's a little twisted, even for you."

Klaus cocked an eyebrow and held up a wrench, considering it.

"Oh, you don't know." Damon smirked. He smiled, exposing bloodied teeth and a split lip that kept reopening.

Klaus turned the wrench over in his hands.

"This place is niiiice and quiet. Far away from town. No one comes out here. that's why you picked it, isn't it?" Damon said.

Klaus looked around, noticing scratches on the walls and dark red-brown stains. His face dropped. She had been here. It was even more than she let on.

"Oh relax, they aren't all from her." Damon scoffed. "I'm not the only council member that uses this place."

Klaus focused on what he wanted to do next. There were so many possibilities.

"You know, I get that you think you've won. You've got me here. But you don't have her. Not really. You see, she'll never shake me. I'll always be there." Damon said.

Klaus hit him with the wrench. Then he flung the wrench against the wall and punched him. He kept hitting until he broke skin, blood splashing back at him with every punch.

A drop fell into his eye and blurred everything red.

He kept hitting, punching, until he couldn't see straight and stumbled back against the stone wall, sinking down to the floor. He screamed, not fully understanding why new anger kept coming. This should make him feel better. This should make it go away.

"You're just as bad as me." Damon grunted.

Klaus watched a drop of blood roll off his finger and land on the concrete floor right next to a dark stain. Someone else's blood. It could be hers.

He got up on shaky legs and trailed his finger over a table of instruments. He picked up a knife.

"She'll never trust you. Not really. She knows you're just as bad as me." Damon said.

Klaus stabbed him in the stomach.

"We're the same." Damon gasped out. "You're going to kill me. Go ahead. But you know once you do, she'll look at you different. I bet you're wondering if she'll ever forgive you."

"Don't talk about her. You don't get to say anything else. You know nothing!"

Klaus punched Damon over and over again, splitting skin on his forehead, breaking his own knuckles with the force of repeated blows. Klaus eventually wore himself out and leaned forward to catch his breath.

Damon coughed out blood. "I know everything. I know her better than you do. I know how shut up her incessant yapping with a single look. I know how to bend her until she breaks. I broke her over and over again and then reshaped her to suit my needs. I made her. You should be thanking me."

Klaus turned his back and let out a heavy sigh. He wouldn't chance letting Damon see that the words were getting him. Thankfully there was a roll of duct tape on the table with his kill tools.

He held out a strip of tape and walked back to Damon.

"Thank you, Damon, for making this very easy for me."

He blocked out Damon's mouth with a slap and turned back to the table of tools.

"Now that I've finally got some peace and quiet, we can get back to work." Klaus said.

He twirled a long pair of pliers between his fingers.

Then a figure appeared at the top of the stairs.

Klaus smiled and leaned against the wall.

"Well, well. What are you doing here?"

Alaric chuckled and took the steps two at a time.

"You know your mother." he laughed. "Very demanding, fond of micromanaging."

"Of course she sent you." Klaus sighed. "It's not like I've been doing this for over a decade or anything like that."

"An extra set of hands never hurt."

"You should go to Elijah, if anyone could use an extra set of hands, it's them. I'm not sure if they have Bekah yet. I'm all square here."

"You know I can't resist a good show." Alaric said.

Klaus smirked back at him, then turned his back to face the table.

"Very well. Since you're here, what will it be? The fingernails or the tongue?" he said, holding different sizes of pliers.

Alaric locked eyes with Damon and nodded, producing a key and putting a finger to his lips.


	20. Chapter 20

**Wow! I'm blown away by all the reviews you lovely readers are continuing to leave me. Thank you so so much for them, and thank you for sticking with this story. I read every review and am thankful for every person who gives my writing a chance. Thank you, thank you! **

* * *

Caroline instructed the cab driver to pull over on the side of the highway. The woods were thin here, and she knew the paths around the town. It was a small town, but she didn't know where to start. They could be anywhere.

A new panic crept over her. She was unarmed, without a phone, possessing only her forged passport (Cara Michaels, she rolled her eyes at it every time she glanced at the name he had given her. It was so _him_.) and a stack of Henrik's money. It would have been impossible to get though international airport security with any kind of weapon. She had no idea where any of them were or what to do if she ran into someone she knew. Did they even know she was alive? Did they know she was aware of the Council? She didn't know if her mother had told anyone. She was unclear of who exactly was involved in the Council. It was a minefield.

She had two options. One was to go to Matt's. She knew Jeremy had called from there, it was possible they were still there. But what if Alaric had gone there too? What if they had moved to another spot or if whoever came for Rebekah came back and was lurking in the shadows?

Her other was to go to her mother's house. It was a Tuesday afternoon. Unless her mother's schedule had changed, this was the day between two overnight shifts. She would be asleep, and her gun would be in the house. Usually, the gun, belt, badge and work clothes were all sitting on a little table across from her bed. She could wake up. There was no telling how she would react. She hadn't spoken to Caroline since that phone call. She had basically said her daughter was dead to her. That no child of hers could ever willingly live among the Mikaelsons.

Caroline made it to where the path split. One way to the residential section of town, the other to the downtown business center and the apartments.

She turned to the right. She needed that gun. She needed something.

* * *

The key was hidden in the same fake rock by the back door. Some things never change.

She twisted it in and turned the knob. Holding her breath, she stepped into the house and closed the door behind her. Her heart was pounding.

She waited for her mother to wake and come running down the stairs.

Nothing.

She had been quiet enough.

Years of sleeping during the day had turned Liz into a bit of a sound sleeper. But not sound enough to sleep through someone rummaging through her bedroom.

Caroline took a hesitant step towards the stairs, then another.

Finally she got to the first stair and started to ease her way up.

The faint sound of running water was coming from the master bathroom.

She almost jumped for joy.

She hurried into her mother's room, trying to keep her footsteps quiet.

There it was. Right next to her badge and belt. Her mother had stopped bothering to lock it up once her daughter moved out. It seemed like overkill to lock it away in an empty house.

Caroline picked it up, feeling the familiar weight and similar shape to the one she had fired back at the Mikaelson house. She had never picked up this one before. Her mother's service gun had always frightened her.

She clicked the magazine and slid it, revealing six gleaming bullets in a neat row. Never in her life had she felt so grateful.

The water stopped. There was the quick rattling of the curtain being dragged across the shower rod, then the doorknob twisted.

Caroline's stomach lurched. She ran.

As she reached the bottom of the stairs she heard her name being called.

She spun around and saw her mother, soaking wet and wearing a towel, leaning over the railing at the top of the stairs.

"Caroline! Wait!"

She recoiled at the familiar sound, stumbling against a wall and knocking over a framed photo of herself. Her eyes went up to her mother, to the pleading expression. Her mother didn't look angry. She looked spooked, but not harsh.

"Caroline, stop! I can help you!"

She didn't trust her. Not after that phone call. It had to be a trick.

So she ran.

As she made it into the woods, she heard her mother scream a final time from the back porch. It was hard to tell, but it sounded like she was saying 'I'm sorry.'

Caroline ran another mile before she was certain she hadn't been followed, that her mother had stopped chasing her.

She collapsed in the pine needle covered path and curled into a ball, clutching the gun to her stomach and taking big gulping breaths. She could picture her mother running after her. Angry. Betrayed. Her only daughter lost to the enemy.

"I'm sorry, mommy." she whimpered, holding tighter to the gun.

* * *

Klaus rubbed the blood off his hands onto his shirt. It was already ruined anyway, splattered with blood that was still red in some places and drying to a rusted brown in others. He was pacing around the room, mapping out his next move. Damon was weak and pale, loosing blood steadily from his wounds. It could last as much as another day if he paced himself, but he had enjoyed this enough. He was ready to end it.

"Alaric, get me a knife. One of the bigger ones."

Alaric moved from where he had planted himself, leaning against a wall. He had spent the last hour silently watching the torture, occasionally distracting himself by tracing a finger along the wide cracks and indents between the stones of the wall. He shuffled over to where the tools were laid out, swept a hand across the table and found a gleaming six inch blade. Before handing it to Klaus, he moved close to Damon, as if he was inspecting him. Klaus watched with curiosity. It was a strange gesture from someone who had stayed out of it and looked away most of the time he was down here.

"You want a go at it?" Klaus offered.

"He's all yours." Alaric grunted, then walked over to the table. He handed Klaus the knife.

"No, this one's too neat. I want the serrated blade, is that on there somewhere?" Klaus said, handing the knife back to Alaric.

"Right." Alaric muttered. He slipped the knife into his own back pocket. He glanced back towards the wall one more time. "Uh, I don't see it here."

Klaus raised an eyebrow.

"I know it's on there, I set it out."

He moved closer to the table.

Alaric stepped behind him, one hand reaching for the knife in his back pocket.

"Here it-" Klaus started.

He spun around, catching Alaric's wrist, the blade in it inches away from landing in his chest.

Pure rage filled Klaus's face as he looked back into the eyes of a man who had spent the last fifteen years working with his family. He slept in their house, ate their food. He had been trusted with Henrik.

He twisted Alaric's wrist until the bone cracked and he dropped the knife

"I knew there would be someone, someday. But I never thought it would be you." Klaus growled.

A light clicking noise echoed on the other side of the room.

Damon fell to the floor, the handcuffs and the key falling down beside him.

Alaric took the momentary distraction and shoved Klaus hard. Klaus stumbled back, then leaned forward, rushing at Alaric. He got a good hit in, knocking Alaric on his back. But they had both spent a lifetime training. Alaric wouldn't go down so easily. He popped right back to his feet.

Klaus tried to get to a weapon. He found a wrench on the table and smashed it over Alaric's head. It didn't knock him out, and if anything, the adrenaline from the hit only made Alaric react more. Alaric ran towards Klaus and shoved him hard, knocking him into the wall.

Klaus felt a sharp pinch as his back hit the wall. It barely registered as he shoved himself forward, and reached for the table.

He found the knife he had wanted all along. It was a long, jagged blade that could rip halfway into someone's body, tear through muscle, crack bone and the serrated blade would tear through a person with a savage cruelty.

It went straight into the middle of Alaric's chest, slipping expertly between ribs, just a bit to the left. A straight connection to the heart.

Alaric screamed out, eyes going wide and blood bubbled out of his mouth.

"Why?" Klaus demanded.

"He's my best friend." Alaric grunted out.

"We took you in. We gave you purpose."

Alaric gave a weak laugh and spit out a mouthful of blood.

"You won't survive it." he wheezed.

"Survive what?" Klaus asked.

"It. Hunts. You."

Klaus shook his head. The dying words of men were often nonsense and threats they could never back up. He ripped the knife out, sending thick spurts of blood pouring from Alaric's chest. He took a breath, appreciating his work. The life left Alaric's eyes. Klaus stood over him and watched the blood slow down as it pooled around him. Traitor.

Then he looked to the spot on the floor where Damon had collapsed. It was empty.

A bloody path went up the stairs.

Klaus felt a strange itch on his back and scratched at it. He remembered the sharp pinch and wondered if there was a nail jutting out of the wall. It was itching more now, and he scratched at the spot, feeling a lump under his skin. He traced a hand along the wall and found a syringe wedged between stones.

This was not good. No wonder Alaric had been so deliberate in that shove. It was to stick him with whatever had been in that needle.

He pulled it out, seeing it was mostly empty. The thing had been set to empty into him as he was pushed into the wall. He turned it over in his hands. It wasn't something he was familiar with. Murky yellow green with a strange label on it. No words, just red and black stripes.

He smirked, flicking it on the table. If it was a sedative, it wasn't very good. Alaric must have thought he was very clever, but it looks like only one of them was still alive. Now it was time to find Damon and finish the job once and for all. It wouldn't be difficult. He was probably too week to stand, much less run. All he had to do was follow the blood.

* * *

A gunshot ripped through the woods. Then another followed.

Elijah looked out the window. Jeremy was reloading. Another three people approached. Jeremy scrambled to aim and hit one in the chest. The other two got closer. The person he hit in the chest rolled over and got back up.

"They're wearing kevlar." Elijah muttered. "Head, Jeremy! Shoot the heads." He banged on the window in frustration.

"Just one more." Kol said, lining up the bolt cutters. He leaned down hard until the chains snapped.

Rebekah rubbed her wrists. "Thanks." she muttered.

"Any time." Kol smirked.

"How did you find me?"

"The Gilbert boy suggested we check all the foreclosures in town. They're good places to hide someone."

"Oh. Matt?"

"Bekah, we don't have time."

"What happened to him? Is he ok?"

"Bekah! He's a civilian. You can't just-"

"Why not?" she demanded.

"Because Kol wants to kill him." Elijah muttered.

"What?"

"He knows too much."

"So you kill him? He did nothing wrong!" Rebekah protested.

"I'm sorry, he did nothing wrong? So you just happened upon him and it just worked out that you got caught in his truck, coming from his apartment." Kon snipped.

"We know the boy didn't set her up, Kol." Elijah said gently.

"Thank you." Bekah said.

"We still can't take him with us." Elijah said.

Another shot rang out.

Kol peeked out the window.

"Good shot, Gilbert." he muttered.

"We need to get out before they send reinforcements." Elijah said, pulling Rebekah out of the room.

They raced down the stairs.

Rebekah almost tripped over Stefan, who was out cold on the floor.

"Is he?" She trailed off. Stefan was the enemy, but he had treated her better than the others that stood guard. It would be a shame for him to die.

"Not yet." Kol said, clicking the safety off his gun.

"No time." Elijah snipped, pulling Kol away before he could get a shot in. "Let's go."

They made it out into the backyard just as Jeremy picked off the last of the men who had come for them. Bodies were scattered all over the lawn.

"Good work." Kol said, assessing the damage and giving Jeremy a pat on the back. "Glad to see all those video games payed off."

"They'll send in another round in under ten minutes."

"We'll be in their air by then. Let's go."

* * *

Caroline was running though the woods when an image flashed through her head. Damon, several years ago. He was mad, madder than usual. She threatened to scream if he hit her. Stefan and Giuseppe were home. She was trying to use them as a bargaining chip, protect herself.

Damon had only smirked and patted her on the head. He would mock her. _Such a smart girl. You really have me stumped._ Then he pulled her to the car and led her to that awful place, where no one could hear her scream.

It was only because she was close to that place. It was just that these woods were familiar. But she couldn't stop thinking about it. She had no other leads. So she decided to go there.

When she made it to the clearing she looked around. The place was empty. Morbid curiosity had her creeping closer to the old cellar. Stone steps down to a stone and concrete room.

Memories came back. She felt a panic attack start to build. She sat down on her knees, again curling around the gun, breathing in and out, following the rules she learned, trying to push it away.

The images behind her eyes were getting stronger. Damon. Pain. Chains. Torture. Screaming. Coughing blood from screaming until her throat was raw. Times after that when she had given up on screaming. When she let herself go limp and just fixed her eyes on a spot on the ground and waited for it to be over. Feeling like there was a dirtiness crawling through her that a lifetime of showers couldn't scrub out. Waiting for death.

She shook her head, keeping her eyes closed.

"Make it stop, make it go away." she whispered.

She tried to replace the images. She tried to remember Klaus, warmth, protective arms wrapped around her, whispered words, _you're safe with me_.

It wouldn't shake it. The images were getting stronger. She could even smell Damon. It was like he was standing right there. It was like she was back against the cold floor, breathing in the scent of her own blood and his cologne mixing with the stagnant mildew of that terrible place right in front of her._ It's not real, it's not real._

A leave crunched and she spun around.

"Damon." she whispered.

This was real.

He wobbled as he stood, battered, one eye swollen, covered in cuts, blood dripping from an arm.

She stood up, feeling like her whole body was made of cement. A dizzy feeling accompanied black spots forming in front of her eyes.

His eyes burned with anger and hate. He didn't even have to say it. She knew what he always said.

_You ruin everything. You're garbage. Useless. You're the reason everything in my life goes wrong. No one else will ever want you. You can never leave. _

The words echoed in her head as they danced behind his eyes. She scanned his body, taking in all the injuries. He looked pale and weak. The terror of seeing him was slowly melting away. He was weak. She was strong. The gun rested heavy in her hand.

He noticed it and lunged forward, reaching for it.

She didn't have time to think or aim. She just acted, pulling it up sharp and pressing down on the trigger.

The shot echoed through the silence.

She had to hold her feet steady just the way Esther taught her so she wouldn't fall back from the kick of the gun. Her ears were ringing. It was done.

* * *

Rebekah kneeled in front of the door, slipping a bobby pin into the lock.

"We need to leave now, Bekah. Niklaus is meeting us at the hanger." Elijah said.

"And my sister." Jeremy added. "Have you heard from her? Is she ok?"

"We have no reason to think anything happened. As long as everything went to plan, she'll already be there." Elijah said.

"I'm not leaving without him." Rebekah said.

"You're not taking him with us." Elijah scoffed.

The door popped open.

"Key." she said, holding her palm out to Kol.

"I'm sure someone will find him eventually. We could just leave some food in reach and-"

"KEY!"

"I'm going to blame your attitude on several days of imprisonment, otherwise I'd be a little hurt by that tone, Bekah." Kol said.

"Up your arse, Kol."

"Temper, temper."

She marched across the apartment, her brothers and Jeremy following.

"Where is he?" she demanded

"Rebekah?" Matt shouted out from the bathroom.

She scrambled over to him and unlocked the cuffs.

He hugged her immediately.

"Are you ok? Are you hurt?" he asked.

"You've been handcuffed all day by my idiot brothers and you're asking if I'm ok?"

"I wanted to help."

"You didn't have to. We're good at these kinds of things."

"I was so worried about you, I didn't know who to trust, after Jere said the police would hurt you if I called them, and then your family showed up-"

"You know. You know and now you hate me." she said, her face dropping.

"No, I... I don't really understand what's going on with all this. I'm just a normal guy, I'm in over my head here with what ever this is. But I like you. I've been so worried about you this whole time. But you're here and you're ok. It doesn't matter if your family's a little crazy."

"How can you say that?"

"If you met my sister and mom, you'd understand." he laughed.

A loud crash came from the other room.

They ran out to see Elijah on the ground, covered in glass. The window had been shattered and a brick had skidded across the floor. Rebekah and Matt watched as Kol and Jeremy helped him up, starting to pick out the pieces of glass that were embedded in his skin.

Elijah ducked as something else came through the window.

The grenade landed in the middle of the room, right at Rebekah's feet.

Matt shoved Rebekah as far away as possible, shielding her with his body.

The rest of them scurried to the far corners of the room.

They waited a beat, expecting it to explode at any moment.

Instead it hissed, letting out a white cloud.

"Tear gas." exhaled Kol. "It's just tear gas."

"Breathe through your shirts, everyone." Elijah said, pulling his up over his nose.

Matt stepped away from Rebekah to pull his shirt over his mouth and nose.

Another grenade came through the window.

"We've got to move." Jeremy said.

It started to hiss. The smoke was creeping through the air, burning their eyes.

Matt ran towards the canisters hissing smoke and picked both up, chucking them out the empty window.

He screamed out, temporarily blinded by being too close to them and getting a fully concentrated shot in the face. But the rest of them were safe now.

"Good arm." muttered Kol.

Elijah looked over at his sister, who was trying to wipe remnants of tear gas off Matt's face so he could see again. He hadn't missed how the boy stepped in front of Bekah to shield her from what they all thought would be an explosion.

He looked to Kol. They had quietly discussed putting a bullet in the boy's brain once Gilbert and Bekah were out of earshot. But considering all the exceptions they were making lately, and the fact that this boy clearly was willing to risk his own safety for Bekah's, perhaps one more couldn't hurt.

"I say yes." Kol shrugged. "And I'll train. Bekah would be too soft, and Niklaus would end up snapping his neck."

Elijah looked to Jeremy for a possible contradiction.

"If Kol's ok with it, I am too."

Elijah tightened his lips to a hard line, giving a final disdainful look to the boys dreary apartment.

"Fine. Bekah, help the boy along until he can see again. We're taking him with us."

Rebakah shot her brothers a grateful smile.

Matt would have looked confused if he wasn't more focused on rubbing the stinging burning smoke out of his eyes. He heard them talking about him but didn't understand what they were saying. The were taking him with them. Taking him where?

Jeremy grabbed Matt's arm and looped it over his shoulders as he and Rebekah stood on either side of Matt, guiding him out of the apartment. Elijah walked in front with his gun drawn, and Kol took the back.

A car with darkened windows waited for them, hidden in an alleyway. They all shoved in and slammed the door behind them.

"The hanger. Now." Elijah barked out.

* * *

Klaus made his way to the top step. He looked around for the bloodied man that would be stumbling around. There was someone standing in the field in front of him, and it wasn't Damon.

Blonde hair fluttered behind her. He blinked, certain his eyes were playing tricks on him. But it was her. It wasn't Rebekah's pale, straight hair. It was Caroline. Standing face to face with Damon Salvatore.

He ran, but before he could get close a sharp crack rang through the woods. The gunshot felt like it had vibrated into his gut. It was too close. Who had a gun? Did Alaric slip Damon a gun? No. It could't happen. This wasn't supposed to happen. Not her. He blindly ran towards the noise.

Caroline was standing there. She was holding the gun, looking down.

Damon was on his back, blood oozing from his neck. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound would come out. Each thin breath shot bubbles of blood through the gaping hole in his neck. His left foot twitched rapidly.

A unusual surge of pride went through him. She had shot him in the neck. His girl just shot someone in the neck. It was genius. It short-circuited his nervous system and rendered him helpless, but it didn't kill him instantly either. He would have to wait a few minutes as he bled out, unable to move. She had gotten him right though the center, probably getting his spine, destroying his esophagus in the process. It was a great shot. Fantastic. Bloody brilliant.

"Caroline." he whispered.

She spun around, tears in her eyes.

He ran to her, his hands rushing up and down her sides, scanning her for injuries. He took the gun out of her hand and clicked the safety, sliding it into his own back pocket.

"I'm ok." she whispered. "He didn't... I'm fine."

He just nodded, feeling his eyes start to well up. He pulled her in close.

A raspy gargled noise escaped from Damon's throat.

She twisted to face him, looking down at him.

"Don't look." Klaus said, trying to nudge her head in the other direction.

"No." she said numbly. "I want to see this."

It didn't scare her as much as she thought it would. It felt good. It felt powerful.

She watched the final breath escape him. And then his eyes went still. Damon wasn't there anymore. It was just a body.

Klaus kissed the top of her head and pulled her closer.

"I killed someone." she whispered.

He looked at her. He felt agony. It wasn't supposed to happen like this. It wasn't supposed to be her kill. He had wanted it for himself. He wanted to protect her.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "It'll be ok. I'll take care of this."

She just looked down at the body.

"I killed someone. Now I'm a killer. Just like you."

He tried to comfort her, reaching out, but she looked stunned. He feared it might have broken her.

"Caroline, no. You're good. Do you understand me? You're good and strong and beautiful. You didn't do anything wrong. This doesn't make you like me."

"I killed him. And I liked it." she said.

He watched the wheels turning in her head, the ways her eyes darted back and forth as she got lost in thought, trying to figure out what it meant.

"I didn't expect that. Why did it feel so good?" she asked.

He remembered the feeling when it was Michael. It was different when it was personal.

"You're free. It feels good because now you're free."

She leaned into him for a moment, letting it soak in.

She smiled up at him, and for the first time, noticed how he looked. He was covered in blood.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"I'm fine." he smiled.

He itched the spot on his back where the needle had gotten him.

Probably nothing. Probably just some sedative that didn't work, or some low grade poison he had an immunity to.

"As glad as I am to see you, sweetheart, I thought we had a deal. You were supposed to stay at the house."

"Oh." she gasped. "That's why I'm here. Alaric. Klaus, he's a spy or something. I think he came here. I don't know if he'll come after you or try to hurt Rebekah, or what."

"I know. I took care of it."

"You..."

"I took care of it."

"Right." she nodded.

"How did you find out?" he asked. Then he put the pieces together.

"Henrik?" he asked, his voice shaking. "Is he..."

"He's ok. Alaric broke his nose, probably gave him a concussion, but he's fine now. He had me snap the bone back, he barely flinched, and then he helped me sneak out so I could get to you. He was so brave and smart. You would have been proud."

"He's just a kid." Klaus said. "How could Alaric... he's just a kid."

"He's fine. You'll see him soon."

"We need to get out of here. They should have Bekah by now. We'll meet them at the plane."

"Is she ok?"

"She should be fine. They had a plan. But I'll feel much better when I see her for myself." he said. "Let's go home."

Klaus scanned the woods. He thought he saw something move in the distance, but it was nothing. He paused. Something wasn't right. In the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Mikael walk between the trees. But he turned and it was just the odd angle of a few branches. It was just his imagination.

He itched the spot on his back again.


	21. Chapter 21

**This story is slowly making it's way to the end. Only a few more chapters after this one. Thank to all of you who have been following along, reviewing and reading every chapter even with my slow updates. **

* * *

Katherine was pacing back and forth in the little hanger at the private airport just outside Mystic Falls.

"They should be here by now." she said, checking the time again.

"Elijah's always punctual." The pilot reminded her. "If they're running late, it's because there were some unexpected complications. They'll be here soon."

"How can you be so calm?"

"It beats being worried every instant of every day. Go make a drink or something, you need to relax." he shrugged.

"I'll relax when Elijah and my brother are back."

The door cracked open.

Katherine jumped up.

Klaus and Caroline walked in.

"Oh, its you." Katherine said, clearly disappointed.

"Nice to see you too." Caroline said, swatting at her playfully.

"What are you even doing here? You were back at their house." Katherine said.

"There was a problem. I needed to get here to warn Klaus, but he figured it out before I got to him." Caroline said.

"I told you to stay put. You nearly got yourself-" Klaus said.

"But I didn't."

"But what if you did?"

"The others aren't here yet." Katherine said quietly.

"They'll be here." Caroline said. "It's going to be ok."

Katherine nodded, but she didn't look convinced.

Klaus tried to swallow back an uneasy feeling. Caroline kept smiling at him, trying to convince him that she was ok after everything that had just happened. In return, he was trying his best to not show his discomfort. There was probably some low grade poison or sedative in the needle. It was something he had built up an immunity to. He just needed to rest and drink some water, it would be out of his system soon. No sense in even mentioning it to her.

"I think we're going to sit in the plane and wash some of this blood off." Caroline said to Katherine.

Katherine's head tilted back, finally stepping out of her own worry to notice the appearance of the two people in front of her. Caroline was spattered with blood and Klaus was practically soaked in it.

"Damon?" Katherine asked.

"I did it." Caroline said, still trying to find the right tone. It was a topic she wasn't used to dealing with. "Klaus started, but I was the one to... end it. I killed him."

Katherine gave her a sad smile and hugged her.

"I'm glad we're on the same team." she whispered in Caroline's ear.

Katherine gave them another nod and went back to pacing the hanger floor while they got in the plane.

* * *

Caroline found the little bathroom in the back and started wetting paper towels. She wiped her face off and looked in the mirror at the girl with little red dots across her shirt. So this is what Caroline the killer looked like. She didn't feel like a different person.

It reminded her of high school, of the first time she looked in the mirror after losing her virginity. Looking for something fundamentally different, but finding that she was exactly the same. She was still herself. She felt different in some tiny way, maybe a little stronger, but it wasn't the life altering experience she had anticipated. She felt at peace with it.

Just outside the bathroom, Klaus leaned against a wall to catch his breath. Something was wrong. A strange pain was creeping though him. It wasn't physical pain in the strictest sense. It was more of an uneasy feeling that was snaking through him. He closed his eyes and tried to push it away.

As soon as his eyes closed, Henrik appeared in his mind. He was running from something. A wolf. He tried to open his eyes, but he couldn't. He watched in horror as the wolf caught up with Henrik and tore a claw down his back, knocking him to the ground. Then the wolf was over Henrik, fangs bared. It ripped into his neck and tore into him, biting over and over. His little brother was screaming to him for help. He tried to move but he was stuck. Henrik's eyes went still.

"Klaus?"

He blinked. His eyes opened and Caroline was standing in front of him.

"Sorry?" he offered.

"I was just asking if you wanted me to help you wipe all that off?" She pointed to his face.

"Oh, yes that would be nice." he nodded.

She pulled him into the bathroom, but before she wiped the blood off him she stood up on her toes and kissed him.

He smiled and let the warmth of her lips on his wash over him. She backed away and he looked at her, reaching out to tangle a hand in her hair. She looked exhausted from all that had happened. He felt guilty, something that he didn't like feeling. Guilt meant caring, and caring meant weakness. Damon was supposed to be his to kill. He wanted to take care of it for her, to be the one to protect her. But she had ended up having to do it herself. He was proud of her. She had done so well. But it should never had fallen to her. Mikael was right when he told him that he would always be a disappointment.

"I wish you didn't have to be the one.. with Damon. I wanted to do it for you." he said.

She studied his expression for a minute and gathered her thoughts

"I'm ok with it." she said. "In fact, I think it's better this way."

"I saw him standing there in front of you, and I heard the shot. I thought..." he swallowed and blinked the image away.

"It's ok. It's over."

"I thought it was you. And it would have been all my fault. You were standing in front of him because of me. All I do is cause you pain."

"I was there because I chose to be. I went against what you told me to do. And yes, it was because I needed to be here to warn you, because I couldn't risk losing you. But it was my decision. It wasn't your fault."

"Caroline, you can't ever have a normal life with me. Now that he's gone, I understand if you want to stay here, patch things up with your mother. I can leave some guards with you."

"Why are you trying to talk me out of this? I want to be with you. I don't care about normal."

He nodded and pulled her close, hugging her tight. The wet patches on his shirt smeared against hers, leaving dark patches on the light fabric, staining it forever. He would always be destruction.

Henrik flashed in front of his eyes again. A wolf clawed his chest.

"Henrik?" he asked Caroline.

"He's ok. We'll see him as soon as the plane lands."

"I have a bad feeling. I keep picturing things happening to him. Are you sure nothing happened to him?"

"Things did happen. But he's ok now."

Klaus nodded. He was being irrational. This was the weakness of feeling. You let a little in and it all comes pouring out like a flood.

She kissed him again.

"Just... You seem a little not ok right now, and if you're worrying about me and what happened today, please don't." she said.

He nodded and turned to the sink, splashing a handful of water on his face.

When he looked in the mirror, blood was dripping off Mikael's face.

He screamed and lurched back, hitting the bathroom door and stumbling back into the aisle.

* * *

Elijah walked through the doors first, followed by Jeremy and Rebekah, who were leading Matt. Matt was still blinking furiously, trying to get the tear gas out of his eyes. Kol followed, glancing behind them every few steps.

Katherine ran across the hanger to them, first tackling Elijah to the ground.

Elijah's tried to maintain his dignity as his guards and pilots watched in amusement at the tornado of a woman flinging herself all over him, kissing him and chastising him for making her worry.

"What is this?" Rebekah asked, motioning to Katherine's presence among their group.

Katherine dusted herself off and hugged her brother.

"You ok, Jere?" she asked, noticing his eyes were red.

"Just a little tear gas. Elijah's got some glass in him, though. We'll need to get it out on the ride back. And Matt here's gonna be blind for another hour or so. He took a full hit in the face so he could chuck the cans away from the rest of us. Probably the reason we weren't too blinded to escape." Jeremy said.

"Elena?" Matt asked, turning towards Katherine's voice.

"Nope, you've got the evil twin instead." she joked.

"Hey, Kat." he smiled goofily, eyes still closed.

"How long has Matt been involved?" she asked Jeremy.

"Just now. He's.. uh, he and Rebekah, um." Jeremy tried to find the right word, unsure of the seriousness of the relationship.

"And what are you doing here?" Rebekah said, eying Katherine up and down. "Who invited you?"

"Bekah, we're being followed, perhaps once we're in the air?" Elijah offered. "Unless you'd like us to ask Niklaus his opinion on you bringing your boy back with us?"

"Fine." Rebekah muttered.

"You're with Matt?" Katherine asked, eyeing Rebekah suspiciously.

"Why are you even here?" Rebekah asked. "We looked into you and your twin. You weren't as useful as your brother. How did some pathetic druggie vagrant like you end up with us?"

"Elijah. You need to talk to your sister." Katherine said, never taking her eyes off Rebekah.

"Elijah, tell me you're not. Her, Elijah? Not you too." Rebekah said.

"Like you're one to talk." Kol snorted.

"Klaus and Caroline are already on board." Katherine told Elijah, ignoring Kol's remark.

"He's still with that one?" Rebekah sighed.

"What's Caroline doing here?" Kol asked.

"Something about warning Klaus about something." Katherine shrugged.

"Is Nik ok?" Rebekah demanded. "What happened?"

Elijah glanced around the hanger.

"I'll get you caught up once we're in the air, Bekah. Right now we've got to get going."

* * *

Caroline got down on the ground in the aisle of the plane next to Klaus.

"What happened?" she demanded.

He gasped and scrambled back until he hit the seat behind him. He was breathing heavy, eyes wild with fear.

"What is it?" she asked, carefully putting a hand on his shoulder.

He flinched.

She pulled her hand away, startled by it. She watched as he blinked several times, slowly pulling away from whatever had spooked him.

He swallowed and looked over at her.

"Caroline?"

"Yes?"

"Caroline. You're here."

"Klaus, what are you talking about?"

"Do you swear that Henrik is alive? That you're not just saying that to keep me calm?"

"I swear. You'll see him. We'll go straight to him when we land."

He nodded, but she could tell he didn't believe her.

She carefully approached him again, slowly scooting across the floor with her hands in front.

He watched her, looking at him like he was broken. He needed to prove he wasn't. He pushed away the images swimming in his head.

"Come here." he said, pulling her in to him.

She exhaled with relief and curled against him.

"I'm mad at you." he said quietly.

"That's my line." she joked.

"You put yourself in danger."

"You needed my help."

"I got to him before you got a chance to help, sweetheart."

"I didn't know that you would. I couldn't just sit and wait."

"That's exactly what you should have done."

"So you get to protect me but I don't get to protect you?"

"You won't need to. I can handle myself. I can't handle you jumping into dangerous situations without training."

"So train me. Or have one of your family members do it."

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to share you with them. I don't want you running missions and getting into situations that put your life at risk. You've had enough of that."

"Let me decide for myself what I can handle."

"Let me keep you safe."

"Why?" She asked "Why is that so important to you?"

"Because I've never done anything good. And you are so much more good than I am. I don't want to take away your light or your kindness by bringing you into this work."

"Do you not like me anymore? Now that I killed Damon?"

He looked stunned.

"Of course I still... I... I love you."

"Then why?"

"Because I want you to love me too. And you'll grow to hate me if I let you into this business. I won't. I can't let you do what I do. It's not right."

"And what else am I supposed to do? I can't go back to Mystic Falls. I want to stay with you, and I can't just be some useless person."

"We'll find something. You can help, just not in the field. Not where there's.."

"Where there's real danger? Because I didn't shoot someone in the neck today? Because I didn't survive a plane crash and several days without food in islands and caves? I survived you. What else do I have to do to prove I can do this?"

"It's not about can. It's about should. And you don't get to be the angry one right now, love. I get to be mad at you this time."

"Mad at me for trying to save your life?"

He sighed and laced his fingers with hers.

"Yes. Furious."

She looked him up and down, then smiled, draping one leg across his and shifting her way into his lap.

"Are you?" she asked, trailing a row of kisses up his neck.

"Yes. Very angry." he said.

She kissed him deeply, sucking gently on his lower lip.

"That's not going to work." he hummed.

She kissed him again, tracing the seam between his lips with her tongue while she shifted in his lap. His hands landed on her hips, fingers pushing roughly against her skin.

"Still mad?"

"Yes."

"What are you going to do about it?" she challenged.

She rocked her hips against him again, feeling him grow harder underneath her.

He swallowed, trying to maintain control.

"I'm going to ... punish you?" he said, not intending it to come out as a question. He knew what she was hinting at, but she couldn't be playing this game with him. She was too sweet. She was about to slap him and yell at him.

"Yes." she breathed. "And how are you going to do that?"

He swallowed and tried to keep calm. His hands slid around her, moving across her behind.

He looked to her. She couldn't be serious.

She nodded.

"Go ahead." she said.

He took a deep breath.

"You've been very bad."

"Yes, I have."

A series of metallic pings echoed from the stairs leading to the cabin of the plane. He groaned and leaned his head against her shoulder.

"Just when we were getting to the good part."

"I promise we'll continue with the good part later." she whispered.

Several people were barging into the plane.

"How nice of you to show up for my rescue." Rebekah said, glaring at Klaus.

""Nice to see you too Bekah, I see you're well."

"No thanks to you, Nik."

"Believe it or not, we did have other business in town, Bekah."

"Like what?" she challenged.

"Like getting rid of a few loose ends. And, as it turns out, Saltzman was one of them."

"What did you say?" asked Elijah, shuffling closer to Klaus.

"Did he say Saltzman? Alaric?" Kol shouted from the front of the plane. "And how did Caroline get here?"

"Get everyone seated." Elijah shouted back at him "I'll have Niklaus explain it once we level out in the air."

"What is that?" Klaus said, pointing at Matt.

"Not a good time." Elijah warned him.

"Tell me you didn't pick up another-"

"Not a good time, Niklaus. The council's closing in and we can't afford to waste any time getting in the air."

Klaus glared at Rebekah. "We're going to have words about this." he said, motioning to Matt.

Everyone got to seats as the engines whirred and the plane started to roll out of the hanger and down the airstrip.

* * *

They had been in the air for an hour.

Caroline had helped Rebekah flush the remainder of the contaminant out of Matt's eyes. The two girls had an uneasy alliance, they would play nice if they had to, but they weren't anywhere near friends yet.

Matt was asking questions and Caroline felt a pang of guilt, being part of it now. He got dragged in.

"So then Kol will be training you and-" Rebekah started.

"Training me?" Matt asked.

"Well, yes. You came with us, so now you need to be trained to do what we do."

"Rebekah, I came with you because I was blind and you dragged me on a plane. I didn't agree to this."

Caroline backed out of the room trying not to overhear the rest of their argument.

Rebekah was slamming things around on the countertop, obviously hurt by Matt's less than enthusiastic reaction. "You said you wanted to be with me, well this is what it is to be with me."

"So what? Now I'm just part of this? I don't get a choice?"

"You said you didn't mind, you said you liked me still."

"Yeah, you. Not them."

"You said it didn't matter."

"Yeah, like it doesn't matter if I like my girlfriend's family, because you see them on holidays or birthdays and you pretend to get along for a few hours."

"That's not really how my family operates."

"I don't know if I can do this." he said. "I just want to be normal and live my life."

* * *

Caroline walked down the aisle of the plane. Elijah was standing along one of the rows, holding on to a seat to keep his balance as Katherine picked pieces of glass out of his side. A paper cup in her hand held a tiny pile of bloodied shards.

"Trouble in paradise." Katherine remarked, motioning to the bathroom.

"It wasn't my idea to take him." Elijah grunted as Katherine pulled out another piece of glass.

"He'll come around." Katherine said. "He's just one of those people who always wanted normal, you know? White picket fence and kids and a golden retriever. It's hard on him to feel like that's all been taken away."

"Sounds like someone else I know." Elijah said, glancing back to the bathroom.

Rebekah had spent a lifetime wondering what it would be like to be normal. She never got the chance. Being born a Mikaelson meant having to give up dreams of a normal civilian life.

Caroline looked at the pieces still embedded in Elijah's skin. Katherine was slowly getting through all of them.

"That looks bad. Can I get you anything?"

Elijah glanced around the plane, his eye catching Klaus in conversation with Kol and Jeremy on the other side.

"Come closer." he whispered.

Caroline leaned in.

"Something's going on with Niklaus. He's not well." Elijah said.

"I know." Caroline agreed. "He needs to see Henrik as soon as we get back. I think he won't be convinced he's ok until he sees him."

"He's been jumpy. Acting like he's seeing things." Elijah said. "Did he mention anything unusual to you?"

"Just that he wanted to see Henrik. He was worried."

Elijah nodded. "He's hiding something. He does this, taking it all on himself so we won't worry. Something's not right."

"I don't know what it is." Caroline said. "One minute he's fine, and the next he's completely out of it."

"I think he might have been injured and he doesn't want us to worry. If it's getting infected he'll need to get help before he gets blood poisoning."

"He's not bleeding." Caroline pointed out. "It's Damon's blood all over him."

"Just... see if you can get a closer look. I know my brother. He's hiding something."

* * *

Klaus was laughing with Kol, swapping cards from the pile in front of them.

Suddenly the energy in the room shifted.

Klaus felt heat.

Fire.

Flames crept across the floor, making a path towards Kol.

Klaus looked around. No one else saw it.

Jeremy got up to grab another beer. Klaus watched in horror as Jeremy walked right though the path of flames that burned across the floor of the plane. They weren't real. Jeremy didn't react to them.

"It's not real." he said quietly.

"What?" Kol asked.

"Nothing. Ah, hand me another card?"

Kol passed him a card and as soon as their hands broke apart the flames met Kol's foot and snaked their way up his body.

Kol's eyes widened in panic. His body was being consumed by the flames. His skin was bubbling and melting.

Klaus stood up and screamed. He could smell Kol's skin burning. Kol was flinging himself against the walls of the plane, trying to put out the flames.

Klaus lunged towards him but he couldn't reach. There was some invisible barrier blocking him. He screamed for help. Kol's eyes rolled back as he collapsed on the floor, charred and burnt.

Klaus felt something hit him in the face and he was being pushed back into his chair.

Kol was standing over him, holding him down.

He was fine. Not burnt, not hurt at all.

Kol slapped him across the face again.

"Nik? Niklaus? What the hell?"

Rebekah and Matt had run towards them to see what was the matter.

"What were you screaming about?" Rebekah asked.

Klaus panicked, trying to find a way to patch it up. He couldn't be crazy. It was real. He could feel the heat of the flames. He knew the difference between real and fake. But here was Kol, right in front of him and he was just fine.

Elijah gave Caroline a nudge and she nodded, moving quickly up the aisle.

"Come with me." She said, grabbing Klaus's hand and dragging him into the bathroom, shutting the door behind them.

Klaus leaned against the sink, breathing heavy.

She rested against the door, watching him. His eyes were flickering back and forth, as if he was trying to sort though something.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Nothing."

"It didn't look like nothing."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not."

"Did Elijah tell you to ask me? I saw you talking to him."

"Yes." she said. "He's worried about you."

Klaus shook his head and laughed. "Worried about me."

Caroline crossed her arms and waited for him to explain.

Something clouded behind his eyes. It was the same shift she had seen earlier when he was asking her about Henrik. Something wasn't right.

"Just go back to Elijah then." he said, his voice dripping with venom.

"What?"

"I don't care! It's always been him, from the very beginning, hasn't it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You never cared about me, you were just using me to get to him! You wanted to make sure if you were marrying into the Mikaelsons you'd at least get a real one, isn't that right, Tatia?"

"Klaus, it's me. Caroline."

"You think you won? You think you can hurt me by going behind my back with my own brother? You mean nothing to me!"

"Stop!"

"You're nothing!"

She slapped him hard across the face. It seemed to work for Kol, and she didn't have time to try anything else.

Klaus snarled at her, taking a step closer, teeth bared. He looked savage, not even human. She recoiled, waiting for him to bite her. For the first time since the beginning, she didn't feel safe with him.

Then he blinked. His eyes went back to normal. He blinked a few times more, clearing his head. A look of horror washed over his face.

"Caroline?"

"It's me." she whispered, still shaken by the way he had charged at her only a moment ago.

"Oh no." he whispered. "Caroline, did I... did I do something?"

"No."

He nodded, not entirely believing her. His hand shook as he reached out to her, , tilting her chin, checking her neck and shoulder for evidence of an attack.

"You called me Tatia."

"I thought she was here. I thought you were her."

"What's going on?"

"I don't know. Kol was on fire. It was real. I felt it."

"Klaus, there was never any fire. We were all here. No one saw fire."

"It felt real."

She moved closer.

He put his hand behind his back and locked them together. He looked fearful as she tried to approach him.

"I saw her, she was here."

"No, she wasn't. And Kol wasn't on fire."

He shook his head.

"What aren't you telling me?" she asked. "What happened?"

"I'm not crazy." he said.

"what's happening?" she asked.

"Nothing." he shook his head. "I just need some rest. Everything's fine."

"No it's not. And you're covered in blood."

"It's not mine."

She motioned for him to move his arms so she could pull his shirt over his head.

"Yeah, we're going to have to burn this or something." She muttered, tossing the shirt that had become stiff with dried blood into a trash bin. "Do you have anything on the plane to change into."

"Probably. Elijah always overpacks."

"There's blood in your hair too." she said and turned on the sink.

He leaned over the faucet to try and clean it, but he couldn't see what he was doing so she stood next to him to get the back of his head.

Her gut twisted.

"What's that?" she asked.

"What's what?"

"Your back."

"We've already had this conversation."

"No, I don't mean that." she said. "Up by your shoulder. What happened?"

"Nothing. It's fine."

She looked at the raised bump with a red dot, like an infected bug bite. Around it bruising and broken veins moved in every direction. Scratch marks broke skin all around it, as if he had been itching at it.

"What is this?"" she asked, touching the skin next to it.

He flinched and moved away.

When he looked back up at her, the darkness had returned.

* * *

Liz Forbes knew how to follow tracks. The path was clear, shoe marks stamped into the dirt, leading into the paths through the woods. They never wavered.

It was long strides for Caroline. She must have ran almost the whole way. There was a break in the tracks, smudges and indents in the leaves. She bent down and looked closer. Caroline had laid down here, for who knows how long before getting back up. But the tracks continued. There was no blood.

She could find her daughter. She could fix this.

Caroline had every right to run. The last time they spoke, it haunted her.

She had yelled at her daughter, scolded her for ruining things with Damon. That was before she knew.

Now all she wanted to to was hug her baby.

Say she was sorry.

She should have seen it. She should have known.

She should have looked closer.

But it was too late for what she should have done. All there was left was now.

And now her daughter, presumed dead by most people who knew her, had switched to the other side. A life long enemy she never knew was always lurking in the shadows had become her ally. And Liz only had herself to blame. She had been the one to keep it from her. If Caroline knew what was really going on, maybe she would have chosen differently. If Liz didn't constantly force the Damon issue, maybe Caroline would have been more attached to home.

But things didn't work out as planned.

She had gotten off work and planned on showering before sleep.

Then she heard someone slip in.

Caroline ran off with the gun.

She tried to catch her, but she was already gone.

When she went back in to put some clothes on and dry her hair, the text messages were already piling up.

There was an attack on the hiding spot. Rebekah Mikaelson had been rescued. There was no hostage left to barter with.

Something else came up next.

A. had returned after a very long stint undercover. She didn't even know his name or face. Only the Salvatores knew him by sight, and Dr. Gilbert through correspondence. Even important players like herself and the Fells were kept out of the loop for this one. A mole on the inside was risky as anything, but it could be exactly what they needed to tip the balance. He had spent over a decade winning their trust before the old tutor had a 'heart attack' and someone needed to step up to teach the youngest Mikaelson whelp. By that time he had already earned Esther's trust many times over. A. was in. She thought it would be several more years before they acted on it.

But he had come back. Word was he had to get to Damon. Some kind of emergency. Damon was the only one he had direct contact with. Liz assumed at first that Damon asked for help with his Liz Forbes problem, but then the Mikaelson girl escaped, and Caroline showed up.

They were all here.

They were here, and they had her daughter with them.

She followed the tracks.

They led further into the woods.

A body was on the ground.

Liz ran to it, fearing what face she would see when she kicked it over. It was Damon. The entire area showed signs of struggle. Things were thrown about, tracks everywhere. A glint of metal among the dirt caught her eye.

The bullets scattered across the ground, the components of her service weapon flung on the ground near them. She put it back together. Only one bullet missing. She glanced back at the wound in Damon's neck.

The stairs led down into the cold stone room. She followed them and found another body on the floor. This one was stabbed. She looked him over and didn't recognize the face. He wasn't any council member she knew and he was no Mikaelson. He might have been the mysterious A. that Damon had talked about.

She ran her hand over a small table full of tools. Blood stained half of them. Knives and blunt objects were coated in rusty grime. A needle sat on the edge.

She picked it up, looked over the label. One of theirs. And she knew exactly which one it was.

"No." she whispered.

Liz tried to push away her fear, but Caroline had been here, and someone had taken the needle. Most of the serum was gone. She could already be dead.

She checked over both the bodies, but couldn't find any puncture wounds consistent to the needle. It wasn't in them. It was in someone else. She needed to reach her, to warn her.

She ran home and found the phone that could reach her daughter.

* * *

The bathroom door flung open and Caroline stumbled back.

She sprinted down the aisle of the plane and stumbled on a patch of turbulence.

Kol caught her before she fell, but another bump sent him flying back with her landing over him.

Elijah stood up, studying her face.

"What's going on? What isn't Niklaus saying?"

"He's just... one minute he's fine and then something happens and it's like he's talking to someone else."

"What?"

"He kept calling me Tatia, then he punched the mirror, and something about Mikael. And his back. There's something on his back."

Elijah nodded and moved back to the bathroom.

Klaus was leaning against the wall, looking down on his bloodied hands. A fragment of the mirror dangled off the edge of the sink, swaying back and forth a few times before crashing to the floor and splitting into smaller pieces.

"It's my fault." Klaus said, not bothering to look up.

"What's your fault, Niklaus?"

"Henrik's dead and it's my fault. The wolves. I should have protected him."

"Henrik's fine."

"I just saw it. I saw him die."

"No." Elijah said. "What's going on? What aren't you telling me?"

"She thinks she can just walk in here and expect me to trust her. As if I could. After everything that happened."

"Who?"

"Tatia won't just leave me alone. I know. You're right. I'm the one to blame here."

"I never said that."

"I should just disappear. That would really be best for everyone."

"Niklaus?"

"I tried... the mirror wasn't sharp enough."

"Tried what?"

"She thought I was punching the mirror because I was angry. I just needed to get a sharp edge of the glass. And I wanted her out of here. She shouldn't watch."

Elijah just stood there, dumbfounded by the conversation his brother was carrying on singlehandedly.

"You're right, Elijah." Klaus nodded. "Let's try again, shall we?"

"What?"

Klaus felt along his neck for a vein and brought a shard of glass up to it.

Elijah realized what he was trying to do just as it pierced skin.

A loud crack vibrated though the plane.

Caroline ran back, sniffing as she wiped a few stray tears.

Elijah was standing over Klaus, who was half conscious on the ground. A tiny trickle of blood went down his neck from where the glass had just managed to break skin.

"What did you do?"

"I didn't know what else... I punched him and he hit the wall, I just needed to stop him."

Kol peeked in.

"Handcuffs." Elijah said.

"For Nik?" Kol asked.

"Something's wrong. He just tried to open a vein in his neck. We need to sedate him."

"Good fucking luck, he's been training himself to take enough to put down an elephant."

"Then strap him down before he comes back to his senses."

* * *

Klaus woke up screaming, chained down to one of the chairs with Kol's handcuffs. With clouded eyes, he cursed all of them and threatened to kill every last one unless they released him. He didn't stop until Kol headbutted him, effectively knocking him out.

Rebekah decided they should hold off on trying to sedate him until they had to move him off the plane. Until then, it wasn't worth the risk. They knew he had something in his system, but there was no precedent for this. They had found the injection site, but there was no clue as to what could make him react like this. It was something new.

He went in and out of sleep, half the time waking up and seeing the world as it was, and half the time seeing people who weren't there, ghastly images of pain and betrayal. It started out as fear or anger but always escalated to attempts at self harm. He would fight and pull at his restraints, insisting that he deserved to die. He twisted and pulled, desperate to end it all.

Elijah added additional restraints every time Klaus drifted back to sleep. Most of the time he spent sleeping was marked with whimpers and flinches that indicated he wasn't finding any peace in dreams.

Caroline had spent the better part of an hour arguing with Elijah, but he finally allowed her to sit next to him. With a set of cuffs on every limb and eight rows of plastic zip ties up his arms, Klaus was now restrained to the point that all he could do was move his neck.

She sat and watched him finch and cry out in pain as something chased through his dreams. His body would tighten like he was reacting to a punch, over and over again.

His eyes opened.

"I remember you." he whispered. "I watched you die. It was years ago."

"Years?"

"I think so. There was no way of measuring time. But it felt like years. It's been so long. I've been running ever since."

"What do you think happened?"

"We were being chased. My fault. They came for me and took you instead. I tried to stop it. They held me down and made me watch. Your death lasted from sunrise to sunset. I couldn't save you. I failed."

He tried to reach to her, but his hands were held back by the restraints.

"I can't believe I'm seeing you again, after all these years. I never stopped loving you. Why did you wait so long to visit my dreams?"

"It hasn't been years. It's only been a few hours. that wasn't real. This is real."

"No." he shook his head. "You're not real. You died a long time ago. I try to join you, every day. But it always goes wrong. It's like I'm immortal. All I want is to die and see you again. Something won't let me die."

"You can't. Because I'm not dead. I'm here and I need you here. We're going to fix this. Rebekah and Elijah are already making phone calls. Kol's going to find a place to keep you safe. We can fix this."

He looked at her, taking her in and not hearing the words, just enjoying the sight of her.

"The light, even here. Caroline, it's you. I've missed you so much." he said, trying to absorb every detail of her, lock her in his mind.

"I didn't leave. I'm still here." she said.

"I'll find a way to meet you. Soon. I'll find a way." he said.

"Klaus, no. You can't. This is real. Don't you dare try to-"

"It's been so long. You're just as I remembered."

Then he drifted back into sleep.


	22. Chapter 22

**Sorry for the wait, everyone. Life outside the internet has been kind of crazy. Again, thank you all so much for the reviews and for taking the time to read the story. **

**Also, check out the new image for the story. I've been so lucky to have several people make graphics for this fic, so I wanted to switch it up a bit. This one's by dhfreak and it's amazing. **

* * *

Klaus woke up in one of the first floor guest rooms at the Mikaelson compound. He could hear them whispering outside the door. He tried to get up but couldn't move.

His wrists and ankles were tied down, making his struggles futile.

He sighed loudly. Then he heard one of the voices and his heart jumped.

Henrik. He could hear Henrik. He was alive. Everything was fine.

The door creaked as it opened. It had never creaked before.

Henrik stumbled into the room, a shocked expression on his face.

"Nik, why did you do this to me?" he asked.

"I didn't do anything." Klaus sputtered.

Henrik moved the hand that was covering his stomach. Blood poured from the bullet wound.

"You did this."

"NO!" Klaus screamed, thrashing at his restraints.

Henrik doubled over in pain.

"You did this. You did this to me."

Klaus watched helplessly as Henrik collapsed to the floor, dead.

"No! I'm sorry. I'm sorry, it should have been me." he said. He tried to reach and help, but there was nothing he could do.

The impulse was back. The images of what needed to be done where in his head, swimming around.

He needed to do it.

Every nerve in his body was on fire.

_Just end it._

_It's all your fault. Just die already. Do one good thing and rid the world of your miserable self._

He struggled and strained, but he couldn't break free. He watched in horror as the body on the floor dissolved into thin air.

The door opened again.

Elijah paused in the doorway, following Klaus's eye line to the blank spot on the floor.

"Who was it this time?" he asked gently.

"This time?"

"It keeps happening. You see one of us, either dying or telling you we hate you. Then you try to harm yourself. That's why you're tied to the bed."

"I know it wasn't real, what I saw. But it felt real. And I just... It was Henrik. I need to see him."

"I'll go get him."

* * *

Caroline and Henrik were sitting in Klaus's old bedroom.

"He had a needle mark, and these strange bruises around it. Elijah took a picture of it, and Kol has everyone searching for what it could be. We took blood, and your mother's looking for the right people and equipment to run tests on it. But we don't know. We don't know what it is, or why he keeps seeing things."

"Is he getting better?"

"It goes in and out. For the plane ride, he was fine for hours, then he snapped, then he went back to normal, then he was seeing things again. He can go for a few hours at a time and be fine, or he'll be back to himself for a minute and it happens again."

Henrik looked up at the ceiling, blinking. He cleared his throat a few times before he could get the words out.

"Is he going to die?" he asked.

Caroline shook her head. "I don't know."

"But he's Nik. He can't die."

The phone on the desk vibrated.

"It's been doing that all day." Henrik said.

Caroline looked over at it.

"That's the one linked to my mom. The one he used to call her."

The phone rattled against the desk.

"Maybe you should answer it." Henrik said.

"I don't want to talk to her."

Elijah walked in the room.

"Henrik." he said. "This time it was you. Can you come down there, let him see your face?"

Henrik looked spooked, but he nodded yes and followed Elijah out of the room.

Caroline looked at the phone.

It vibrated again.

She reached out and her hand hovered over it for a moment.

It vibrated once more, and she picked it up.

* * *

Matt felt eyes on his back.

He turned around and saw the guard casually glance up at him and then return to the book he was flipping though. They would act as if they just happened to be in the room, but he was never left alone.

Bekah walked into the room, nodding at the guard. He slipped out, leaving them alone, although Matt knew that he wouldn't go far. There was probably someone right outside the door.

"I feel like a goldfish." he said.

"You'll get used to it. You don't notice after a while." she offered.

"I don't want to get used to it. This is messed up. This isn't a life."

"It is for me. This is my life."

"What about when we met? We could just..."

"We can't. I can't. I tried to hide all this from you, I didn't want you to have to live like this." she said.

"Then let me go. Let me out of here and let me go back home."

"You don't get it. We got lucky. My brothers agreed to this, because of everything going on, but only if you're under watch."

"They agreed to this without my say."

"You don't get a say." she said, shaking her head. "They agreed to this instead of killing you. Matt, they wanted to kill you."

"So it's this or death?"

"I tried to keep you separate. This is why I didn't tell you anything. I didn't want them to find out about you, but then everything happened."

She touched his shoulder and he shifted away. A look of hurt came over her face and he glanced briefly at her before looking down.

"I don't know what to do." she whispered.

"Right now, I just want you to leave me alone." he grumbled.

She nodded, blinking back tears as her hurt shifted to anger. She stood up and took a few paces across the room before taking a piece of crystal off an end table and flinging it against the wall, creating an echo of pings as the tiny pieces skidded across the marble floor.

Matt put his head in his hands as the door slammed behind her.

* * *

Caroline picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she said.

"Caroline?"

"Mom?"

"Caroline, please don't hang up."

Caroline took a deep breath. "Ok." she said. "Mom. I'm sorry. I'm sorry about everything."

"No, sweetie, I'm sorry. I should have known. I should have seen in right in front of my face. I know now. And I'm sorry I didn't stop it."

"Mom. What do you know?"

Caroline felt the tears pouring down her face, but it was like her whole body went numb. This was a conversation she never wanted to have. She wasn't ready for it.

"I know. I know what he did to you. I saw your medical file. I'm so sorry. I saw what I wanted to, and not what was there. All those times I pushed you to go back to him. I failed you. I didn't keep you safe."

"Mom, I'm fine. I'm safe now."

"Come home. Come back to us, and I'll fix this."

"I'm not coming back to Mystic Falls."

"This is your home. This is where you belong. The people who love you are here. You need to come back."

"The people here, they care about me too, mom. I'm ok. I want to stay here."

"Caroline, I've spent half my life fighting those people. You're not safe. They're manipulating you."

"I feel safer than I have in a really long time. I need you to trust me. I know you don't like this, but can you at least believe me when I say that this is what I want?"

"There's something else." Liz said. "I need to ask you something and you have to swear to tell me the truth."

"I'm not going to tell you where we are or anything that will let you hurt them."

"That's not it."

"Then what?" Caroline said cautiously.

"There was a needle at the old Lockwood cellars. Where we found the gun you took and the... the bodies."

Caroline nodded.

"Were you the one who got injected?" Liz asked, her voice shaking.

"No." Caroline said. "What is it? What was in it?"

"Who?"

"Mom. Tell me what it was."

"Caroline, whoever it was, you need to get away from them, and fast."

"Mom. Tell me." she said.

"It's the one you, uh, it's the one of them that's important to you?"

"I love him. Please. Tell me how to make it stop."

"There's no way to make it stop, Caroline. You just have to wait for it to run its course."

"I don't understand."

"If I tell you, and anyone on the council finds out, they'll disown me. We've spent years developing this."

"I'll never ask you for anything else. Please tell me. I can't live without him."

"Whoever he was, that person could be gone by now. Permanently. We don't know. It's only been used a few times, and no one has ever made it though to the other side."

"I don't understand."

"Is he really what you want? Are you sure?"

"Yes. I'm sure. Can you help me?"

"It's a new toxin, we call it the hunter. It goes straight to the brain. When it gets in someone's system it slowly brings out all the fears and anxiety they keep tucked away, and turns them into hallucinations. It usually prompts them to self harm or harm those around them. It escalates and becomes more frequent as the toxin blooms in their bloodstream, creating physical pain along with the visions. Is he restrained?"

"Yes."

"Then you need to make sure whatever it tying him down is strong. The impulse gets stronger. It'll stop fading in and out and become a constant. He'll be in constant extreme pain and sufferer hallucinations of whatever it is that would cause him the most psychological pain. It's different for every person. But it has always ended with them finding a way to kill themselves. The toxin won't kill him, it'll make him hurt so much that he'll find any possible way to kill himself."

"Is there any way to reverse it?"

"No. Once it's in, it's in. It has to be metabolized by the body for it to stop. But that could take weeks, months even. No one's ever lasted though it.

"He'll be the first." Caroline said. "He has to be."

"Sweetie, we don't know. We don't know if there will be anything left of him when it fades from his system. If you can even keep him alive long enough for it to leave his system."

"I can help him." Caroline said. "I can do this."

"He's killed people. People we care about. People you grew up with. Maybe it's best to just let-"

"Don't."

"Caroline. Come home."

"I'm sorry mom. I'm not leaving him."

"And I'm not ever going to be ok with you staying with him. Especially now. With that poison in his system, he's even more of a danger to you than before."

"Then I guess this is goodbye for now." Caroline said evenly. She tried to hide the strain in her voice. Her mother had given her a great gift by explaining what was in the needle, but at the same time, she would never approve of her daughter staying with the Mikaelsons.

"Be careful." her mother warned. "I already went to your funeral once this year. Don't make me go again."

"I'm safe mom. I promise."

They hung up.

* * *

Esther was back, and Elijah had taken to keeping an eye on her. She was near catatonic, always looking off into the distance.

"It's too much." she whispered. "This is more than we can take."

"Caroline got the information we needed." Elijah reminded her. "We know what to do. We just keep him safe from himself until it passes."

"Nothing helps. We tried every sedative and medicine. Nothing." she said.

Another gut wrenching scream rattled through the house.

"Go outside." Elijah offered. "You don't need to hear this."

She shook her head. "Family above all."

"You can't help him."

"I can stand by him."

The next scream shook the windows. Esther took a shaky sip from her drink, trying to numb the pain of not being able to stop it.

"Caroline warned it would get worse before it gets better." Elijah said. "But it will get better. We're all right here. We won't let him do anything."

* * *

It was the middle of the night. The third shift of guards was both inside the room and right outside.

Caroline paced back and forth by the door.

"Is he sleeping?" she asked.

She had hoped he would find a few moments of peace after hours of agony. There were no noises from the other side.

The guard flicked open his phone and found the feed from the other side of the door.

"No. He's awake."

"Can I?"

"You know the rules."

"I'm not going to untie him."

"Then go ahead."

She opened the door and found him looking up at the ceiling, staying very still.

His eyes went wide when he saw her.

"Are you really here?" He asked. "I thought you left. You said you were leaving."

She sat at the edge of the bed.

"I didn't say that. I'm not leaving you."

"You did. You couldn't stand it here anymore. Couldn't stand me."

"That's not true. You know that was just the hallucinations."

"No. It's a vision into the future." he said bitterly.

He coughed blood, his throat raw from screaming for days on end.

"What happened since the last time I was here?" she asked.

"The last time you were here, you were telling me how pathetic I am, for loving you. How you've never been anything but disgusted by me. How you have no interest in worthless feeble bastards and-"

"Klaus. That wasn't real. You know. You have to work through this."

"Maybe you're not real. This is just another hallucination."

"And why would you have a nice one? All the other ones have been pain."

"This is the worst of them all." he whispered. "To make me need you. To make every second without you agony. And to know you're going to leave."

"You told me you didn't want me in here. You get mad every time I visit you."

"You think I enjoy the shame of you seeing me like this? I'm.. I'm..."

"Helpless." she finished. "You're helpless right now."

"Yes, and it's not exactly my finest look, so you should just leave. The guards won't let me do anything to harm myself."

He winced and tensed forward, gritting his teeth. The hallucinations were back, and they got worse every time.

It felt like a hot knife in his chest, over and over again. He thrashed against the restraints and tried his best to to scream out from the pain.

She got closer and curled around him, holding on.

He didn't have the energy to be ashamed of his own weakness. It was too much. The knives kept coming. He tried to focus on her. He tried to hold in his screams of agony.

Caroline was there, rubbing soothing circles on his back, whispering reassuring words, holding on tight to him every time he jolted from another hit.

After what seemed like hours, it stopped. He was drenched in sweat and his throat was so raw he couldn't speak. A warm trickle of blood was dripping from his nose. She was still there. He felt the last waves of the physical pain leave and knew it would only be a few moments before the next torture. But for now, he breathed in her sunshine scent and knew she was really there.

She had found a damp cloth and blotted his face, wiping up the trickles of blood from his nose.

"You should leave." he said. "You shouldn't be here. This is no place for you."

"My place is with you." she said. "I know why you keep pushing me to leave, but you have to let me stay. You're going to get through this. Let me help you though this."

He nodded, not able to meet her eye as he agreed to what he considered to be an unacceptably selfish measure on his part. But everything hurt. And she made it hurt a little less. He was beginning to feel like he would die from the pain if she was gone.

She wrapped her arms around him and he sighed, enjoying her warm presence.

Then his eyes jolted wide open as he felt the skin being pealed from his back.

She held him close and pulled his face into her chest as he screamed into her skin. Flecks of blood marred the fabric of her shirt as he screamed with each shockwave of agony.

The only shred of sanity he had come from her. Through all the pain he could hear her whispers and feel her there.

"I love you, you're strong. You can get through this. I love you. I'm here. I'll always be here."

She whispered it over and over again.

It was an echo that blew through the room as he saw visions of anyone he ever cared about, bleeding out in front of him, cursing him, disowning him. Caroline's form stood in front of him, telling him she always hated him, that he was nothing to her. But somewhere in the distance he could hear the real her. And a warmth reminded him that she was there next to him.

* * *

Elijah and Esther were in one of the offices, watching the computer screen. They watched Klaus's cell at all hours. It had been over fifty days of torture, of watching and waiting. They had long since given up trying to sit with him. The only thing that ever seemed to bring him any comfort was Caroline. Instead they waited on the other side of the door, out of his sight but never far away.

Caroline was sitting next to him, holding a bag of ice on his shoulder. He had dislocated it trying to free himself from his restraints in another attempt at self harm. Even tied down he found new ways to injure himself every day in his desperate attempts to end his life.

"She's never gone more than ten minutes at a time." Elijah said. "Over the past month, she's only left his side to shower, and even then she rushes back with wet hair. She sleeps there. She spends all day by his side. The guards bring the food to her and she feeds him. She managed to get him to eat something so they wouldn't have to force a feeding tube down his throat."

"Is he gone? Have we lost him?" Esther asked. She looked to the man on the screen. Weak. Defeated. She couldn't imagine the crumpled, broken man being the wolf she created.

"No. He'll be back." Elijah said. "Even now, you can see bits of him still in there. I think she's keeping him from losing himself."

"How much longer will it take?"

"It's starting to ease up. He's getting a few hours a day of rest now."

Esther nodded.

There was a call from downstairs. Kol had something to show them.

Down in the labs, there was a breakthrough. Kol and Jeremy had been working in the labs to identify the toxin. They had samples of Klaus' blood from the day it happened, and ones from each week since. They could see it, and they could see it slowly dissipate.

"Look at the rate it degenerates at." Jeremy offered, showing his sister Katherine the microscope as Elijah looked on over her shoulder. "The molecules are starting to break down. It's almost out of his system."

* * *

Caroline held on tight as he shook from the pain. They had been getting better gradually, his visions becoming less frequent and the pain only happening about half the time. But this one seemed worse.

She tried to get him to hold on to reality. She smoothed back his hair and said it over and over again, hoping he could hear.

Klaus heard the faint echo of an _I love you _in the distance. But he didn't believe it. In front of him stood his entire family, each taking turns twisting a knife into his gut as they told him he wasn't their family anymore. They were laughing, joking with each other as they turned their backs on him. Tatia and Caroline were there, smiling and laughing together, bonding over how pathetic they found him.

"You can tell his birth father must have been some common swine. Peasant stock." Tatia said offhand. "He doesn't look remotely like a real Mikaelson. Just... common."

"You're right." Caroline agreed. "He's nothing compared to his brothers."

"Brothers?" teased Tatia.

"Well, half brothers." Caroline joked. "But yes. God, the second I saw Kol I knew I made a serious error ever considering Klaus. Talk about night and day."

"Tell me about it." Tatia smiled. "I couldn't imagine having to go back to Klaus. It makes my skin crawl."

"I know." Caroline agreed. "He's such a waste. Every time he touches me I just want to throw up."

"I always faked it." Tatia said. "Every single time."

"Me too." Caroline chirped. "I can't imagine any woman actually being satisfied by that pathetic little thing he call a-"

"About done here, are we?" Elijah interrupted.

Caroline smiled at him and walked over to him.

Elijah pulled her in for a searing kiss.

Suddenly everyone was gone except the two of them.

His hands were all over her, under her shirt, moving their way up across her chest.

"Oh, god, Elijah." she hummed.

"Can my brother make you feel this way?" he challenged.

"Kol didn't do so bad this morning." she teased.

"You know that's not who I'm talking about." he chided.

She rolled her eyes. "He's not even your real brother. And no. Obviously."

Elijah roughly grabbed her and spun her around so her back was to him. His hand went to the zipper of her pants and slowly pulled it down, his hand stroking over the fabric of her jeans. She jerked forward to press herself closer.

"Promise me." he hissed into her neck.

"I promise. Please. I need you."

His hand slipped into her pants and she cried out in pleasure.

She squirmed against him and whimpered out pleas for him to keep going.

"Say it." he commanded.

"I'm yours." she said. "Take me. Take me away from him."

"Can Niklaus touch you like this?"

"Never. I belong to you. I want you."

"Can he make you fall apart at his touch?"

"Oh. Don't stop. No. Don't stop."

"Say it." he said again.

"It was always you, Elijah. Never him. I've only ever cared about you."

Elijah and Caroline stumbled into the bed and he moved over her. Her legs hitched around his waist. With a tight grip around her back, he rolled to the side to pull her up over him. But as they shifted her blonde hair turned to black.

Klaus felt himself opening up a door and staring into a memory.

"Oops." Tatia shrugged, looking over her shoulder at him as she straddled Elijah.

Klaus' eyes snapped open. He was in a field. Henrik was next to him.

"I want to see the wolves." Henrik joked.

"I'm the wolf." Klaus teased. "Remember?"

"Good, you'll be all the protection I need from the real ones, then." Henrik replied.

Then the pack was racing across the grass.

Klaus saw feral eyes. He tried to reach for Henrik's hand, but it slipped out of his grasp.

"Nik!" Henrik shouted.

The wolf landed on him, shredding him with razor claws before biting down hard.

"Nik... You promised to take care of me."

Henrik was dying, bleeding out before his very eyes.

Then he was in a glass box. An unfamiliar house.

Kol was on fire again.

He beat his fists bloody, trying to reach Kol. But he was in the box. And Kol was dead.

Then he watched his mother pour a glass of poison and hand it to him.

Elijah polished a sword.

Mikael tied a piece of glass to the end of a whip.

Council members circled around.

His family set in.

A burned corpse and a bloodied little boy circled him. Blamed him. Hated him.

Finn glared at him from behind a set of bars.

Elijah rattled off a list of everything that was wrong with him.

His mother smiled in his face and offered him a drink.

He knew what was in the glass. He took it anyway and hoped it was real. Waited for death.

Rebekah told him she never wanted to see him again.

Elijah told him he was the reason for everything wrong that had ever happened.

Then something broke and they were all dissolving. They faded into darkness. He felt peace for the first time since it had started. He sat alone in the darkness for a moment, feeling the warmth of someone next to him. Only then did he realise that it wasn't real. It was another hallucination. The warmth next to him smelled like Caroline. He opened his eyes.

Caroline was there, brow furrowed with worry.

He gave her a weak smile, trying to assure her that it was all fine. He felt fine.

She stroked his sweat matted hair.

"I heard everything. It was the one with me and Elijah again." she said softly. "And then something else, but I couldn't figure out which one."

"It was all of it at once." he said.

"You know it's not real. Me and Elijah. Or any of it."

"I know." he said.

He exhaled and felt the weight lifting. It was over. He was certain of it.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I think it stopped." he said. "And you're here. You're still here."


	23. Chapter 23

**Hello my wonderful readers! Sorry these chapters have been taking a bit longer to get posted recently. Real life has been crazy. Unfortunately, we're almost at the end of this story. And be warned, there is some smut in this chapter. **

* * *

Kol leaned in the doorway. He watched as Jeremy pulled another blood sample from the i.v. in Klaus' arm. Elijah stirred in the chair where he had slept the past few nights, and smoothed his suit out as he sat up, looking over at the bed where Klaus and Caroline were still sleeping. Jeremy capped the vial and nodded to Kol and Elijah, slipping out of the room.

Caroline opened her eyes and sat up slowly, careful not to disturb Klaus. He seemed to finally be sleeping peacefully. It had been a chore to convince him to go to sleep. Once he had felt it lift, he went into a manic state, pacing around the room anxiously, trying to be sure.

He interrogated all of them, making sure they were who they were, and not some hallucination. It took hours, much longer than the blood tests Jeremy and Kol kept running. Each one came back clean. It had been out of his blood since morning. They still kept checking, but it was fine. He had made it through to the other side. The hunter had left him.

He had never let go of Caroline. He held on tight to her hand, glancing at her out of the side of his eye as he cautiously spoke to all of them, making sure they were real. His grip didn't loosen until he finally fell asleep.

Kol sauntered into the room after Jeremy left. He nodded a greeting to Elijah and sat at the edge of the bed by Caroline's feet.

"Up." Kol said, motioning for her to get out of bed.

"I can't just leave." Caroline whispered.

"Caroline. He's fine."

"But if he wakes up..."

"If he wakes up, Elijah will be here with him, and he'll send for you immediately. Won't you, 'lijah?"

Elijah nodded stiffly.

"See?" Kol said.

Caroline hesitated.

"Let Elijah feel important." Kol said. "It gives him something to do."

Caroline paused another moment, then nodded.

"Ok." she conceded. "But I'm not leaving the house."

Kol led the way and she paused in front of a mirror in the hall, adjusting her hair over the side of her neck. A few days ago Klaus had been in one of his more incoherent hallucinations, and he bit her hard enough to draw blood. He didn't seem to know he did it, he was so gone when it happened. She had covered it up fast enough that she was fairly certain no one saw it, and she had been very careful keeping it covered. If anyone saw, they wouldn't let her in the bed with him. Or they might try to put some kind of muzzle on him, like an animal. It was bad enough his hands and feet were tied down.

Caroline absently traced the bruised punctures, flipping her hair over them. She kept waiting to fear Klaus after it happened, but she didn't. He wasn't Damon. He would never knowingly hurt her. She hoped it would heal before he saw, and that he would never find out.

* * *

Caroline and Kol walked though the halls until they got to one of the formal sitting rooms. He motioned for her to sit on one of the sofas as he rummaged through a cabinet. She carefully sat on the the ornate sofa, all silk and gold trim, as if her very presence could destroy the lavish furniture. The furniture in this room probably cost more than her mother's house.

Kol produced a crystal bottle full of amber liquid. He sniffed it and grinned, pouring a generous glass for himself. He held the bottle out for her to see, reaching for another glass.

"It's not even noon." she said.

"Given the circumstances..."

"Fine." she agreed. "Just a little."

He poured her more than a little, grinning to himself.

Kol handed her the glass and fell back onto the sofa next to her.

"Jeremy confirmed it. The poison's out of his system."

She nodded.

"But that doesn't mean he's back to normal. He's been bedridden for..."

Kol paused, looking her over.

"Do you even... you were with him the whole time, do you even realize how long it's been?"

"It felt like forever." she said.

"I don't know how you stayed." he said. "I couldn't stand it. I think an hour is the longest I could stay in that room. Listening to him scream and beg and not be able to do anything about it..."

"I couldn't leave. Someone had to be there the whole time."

"But we're his family. It shouldn't have been you. It should have been us."

"Your family's idea of staying with his is keeping a guard in the room, standing outside the door, watching on a camera from across the house."

Kol looked down, a bit embarrassed. He nodded and took a long sip from his drink.

"I suppose from your point of view we seem cold. We're not Americans, not from some picket fence little town. We don't hug. We don't carry on with affections. It's not how things are done." He twirled the remaining liquid around in his glass. "But we do love him. He's our family. We just aren't built to love the same way as you."

"How long was it?" she asked.

Kol took a deep breath.

"52 days. If you want to be precise, it was in his system for 52 days, four hours and about nine minutes."

"And now it's out." she said. "He'll be better."

"We don't know. He spent fifty two days screaming, seeing things, feeling pain. How can anyone be better?"

"I want to go back in there. What if he wakes up?" Caroline said.

"He's going to come back to his senses slowly." Kol said. "Yesterday he was in a daze, still confused about what was real and what wasn't. He was weak from the hallucinations. But he wouldn't let go of you. He's using you as a crutch."

"I'm just trying to help."

"And what help will you be if someday you're not here? And he's grown to depend on you for everything? I saw what he was doing. He was using you to measure what was real. He was anchoring his sanity to you."

"I'm trying to help." Caroline pleaded.

"Go help Bekah shop or something like that."

"I'm not leaving."

"Fine. But I'm not letting you back in there. Not until he's ready."

"And I'm just supposed to sit here and wait?"

Kol smirked and got up to pour himself another drink. He made one for Caroline too, even though she had shaken her head to refuse it. He held it in front of her until she finally obliged and took it, taking a tiny sip.

"Luckily for you, darling, I happen to be an exceptional storyteller." Kol said. "Did I ever tell you about the time Niklaus convinced an entire village that they were about to fall prey to some ancient curse involving the sun and the moon? No? Well, it's quite funny. See, we were looking for this rather valuable stone..."

* * *

Klaus woke from the first dreamless sleep in almost two months. He was sore from keeping his muscles clenched as he battled through the hallucinations. He knew they were hallucinations now. He understood it wasn't real.

It still sent shivers down his back, remembering each image, each word, each burst of pain.

He sat up and reached for the glass of water on the bedside table. A small sip made him cough, the water stinging his raw throat, ripped apart from his constant screams. He covered his cough with his hand and grimaced at the blood that came out.

He got up in shaky legs and padded across the room.

"You're up."

He turned and saw Elijah sitting on a chair in the corner of the room.

An unexplainable wave of hate rushed through him. Images of Elijah and Caroline together flooded his mind.

They were just hallucinations, Klaus reasoned with himself, and he pushed them back.

"Kol and the guards agree that once we can be sure you're better, you're free to roam the house. Just want to make sure there are no residual... visions." Elijah said.

Klaus nodded. He searched the room for Caroline. Where was she?

"Are you seeing something now?" Elijah asked, his voice full of worry.

Klaus caught Elijah looking at the restraints still attached to the bed. They had taken them off yesterday, but there was always someone right there waiting to slip them back on in case he fell back into the visions the hunter had given him. The visions that made him a danger to himself and anyone else who got close.

Then a terrible idea coiled into Klaus' mind. Caroline wasn't there. Maybe she was never there. Maybe she was another hallucination. He couldn't quite pinpoint where the hallucinations started, and if they could affect memories.

"I need a shower." Klaus grumbled.

Elijah pointed him to the bathroom attached to the room, and made a point to keep the door open a crack. They still weren't trusting him.

Klaus turned the water on and stood under it, flipping back and forth from hot to cold, trying to wake up, just in case this was another dream.

Caroline wasn't there. Maybe she never was. Elijah hadn't mentioned her.

When he was clean and convinced that he wasn't still dreaming, he stepped out and wrapped a towel around his waist. He walked back into the bedroom and Elijah threw a pair of pants and a shirt at him.

A memory flashed back. He was naked and in the woods, somewhere far away. Elijah was there, flinging clothes and disdain at him.

Klaus tried to place the memory as he shuffled into the pants. Elijah was shaking out a jacket and holding it out.

Deja-vu. He had been here before.

A memory snaked its way though his mind and attached to this one. Elijah glaring daggers at him, shoving his hand into his chest, breaking skin and bones and gripping on his heart. Ready to kill him, telling him he was the reason why their family was broken. Prepared to kill him in vengeance. For their family. The family that hated him.

Klaus slowly moved his arms into the jacket and then without warning, spun around and slammed Elijah down, pinning his shoulders to the ground.

Klaus pulled his arm back and swung. Elijah's arm flew out and caught his fist before it connected with his face. He twisted Klaus' arm and pushed, gaining control over the fight and pushing Klaus down.

"Are you mad?" Elijah sputtered out.

"I didn't kill them!" Klaus shouted.

"Kill who?"

"Our family. I know you think I did, but..." Klaus' face dropped, realizing his mistake. His grip on Elijah loosened. "You never tried to kill me to avenge our family. It was all in my head. The venom, what do you call it? The hunter."

"It's out of your system." Elijah said. "But we expected some aftershock. Something triggered it."

"You handed me the jacket and it was just like in the hallucinations. Except I got confused and thought it was a memory. I'm not sure... I'm not sure what real, and which memories never happened."

Elijah sighed and dusted himself off, moving a few feet away from Klaus.

"And that's why it had to be me here, when you woke up. Could you imagine if Rebekah, Kol, Mother..."

"I'm not going to hurt anyone." Klaus said, a hint of worry in his voice. He didn't entirely believe is own words. And Elijah hadn't mentioned Caroline yet.

Klaus glanced back at the restraints. He was walking a thin line. If Caroline was only in his mind, he couldn't let anyone know. They would lock him up forever.

"You understand, don't you?" Elijah said. "We're your family. Always and forever. Any memory of betrayal or hate or us turning our backs, it's not real. We're always on your side."

Klaus nodded.

"I heard some of it." Elijah said. "I know you saw things... me, the rest of us. Awful things. Push it away, brother. It wasn't real."

Klaus looked at Elijah and all he could see was his brother's hands sliding across Caroline's skin. His brother's hand brandishing a knife, pointing it at him. His brother staggering back, a dagger in his chest. A dagger he had shoved there. Caroline was screaming. Elijah was hurling threats. Klaus was lashing out at both of them, clawing at the doors slammed in his face. Doors they whispered behind. And whispers turned to sighs and moans.

"Klaus?" Elijah asked, snapping him out of his daze.

Klaus balled his fists, fighting back the overwhelming urge to punch Elijah.

_It wasn't real, it wasn't real. _

"Can I see.. Can I see everyone?" he asked. There was only one person he really cared to see. He needed to see her, to make sure she was real.

"I doubt Rebekah will be so understanding if you tackle her, shouting nonsense." Elijah said.

"I have it under control." Klaus said.

"Are you sure?" Elijah challenged.

"The guards are waiting for your word." Klaus snipped.

"Why don't you just spend a little more time in bed, gather your senses." Elijah gently suggested.

"Tell them to open the door."

Elijah looked him over.

"Very well. The door, if you will."

The lock snapped open and the door swung open.

Klaus shot Elijah another glare before pausing to shake his head. _He's your brother. He doesn't really hate you. He didn't really try to kill you or steal your girl. Its all in your head._

He cleared his mind and walked through the house.

* * *

Klaus ran into his mother first. She fussed over him and smoothed his hair down for a minute before swinging right back into business and making arrangements for the next mission. He nodded along, not particularly caring about whatever she had planned that didn't involve him. She wasn't letting him on the front lines until he was fully recovered, so he grew bored of the details.

He found Henrik and Rebekah next. They were sitting quietly in one of the sitting rooms, fussing with Henrik's camera and whispering about the photos.

Klaus felt his whole body start to shake. He had seen both of them die several times over the past weeks. Or was it months? He had lost track of the day in that darkened room. It was only impossible to measure stretches of time. Pain and anguish and somewhere in the distance, a voice calling him back. A soft warm feeling of someone being there.

He sat with them and only flinched a little when Henrik pushed the button on the camera. He only pulled back a little when Rebekah tried to put her hand on his arm. He only felt a tiny sting of tears beginning to build as he watched Henrik smile. But it was enough that they were watching him carefully.

He pictured them locking him up. He was a lost cause. He was insane now, and as soon as they realized it, they would keep him in some room forever. He was a liability.

He took careful steps across the halls. The camera reminded him of something. There was a photo in his bedroom. Himself and Caroline. If he could find it, he would know she was real. That all the happiness with her was something that really happened and not some illusion created to haunt him and remind him of just how unlovable he was.

His hands were shaking. He needed that picture. He needed physical evidence that she was real. He was afraid to ask the family about he, because if she wasn't real, they would certainly lock him up. Or maybe she was real and she died that day on the plane. Or he shot her when they got to Kol's boat, like he would have done with anyone else. Or she left the first chance she got. Or she betrayed him and fled back to Mystic Falls.

He didn't know.

He felt like he knew nothing at all.

And then it hit him.

Her voice.

It was a sweet song through the air, it wrapped around him and pulled him in.

He could hear her. She was real. She was here.

He picked up the pace and pushed further down the halls until he reached the gold sitting room.

He saw the back of her head.

And then he froze.

A warning light went off in his mind.

_Wrong brother. You were wary of the wrong brother._

Caroline's hair shook as she laughed. Kol was sitting on the couch next to her. Very close to her. Intimate. He was using his typical posture and mannerisms for when he was telling one of his stories.

Then Kol stood up, unaware of his brother lurking in the doorway.

"No, it was more like this." Kol said to Caroline. "Here, stand up."

He pulled her up off the couch and Klaus saw red the instant Kol's hand grazed Caroline's arm. He waited for her to swat him away and slap him, but she obliged, letting Kol lead her to the middle of the room.

"So then Niklaus storms in and I panic, so I grab Bekah like this..." Kol continued, his hand slipping around Caroline's waist. Caroline let out a surprised yelp and almost spilled her drink, but she didn't push him away.

Klaus snapped, charging into the room to go straight to the bar. He picked up a heavy crystal tumbler and smashed it on the floor.

Caroline and Kol jumped, looking at him with shocked expressions.

"You're awake." Caroline breathed.

"Oh yes, I'm quite awake." Klaus said, glaring at her. "I can see things now."

Kol scanned his brother's posture and stepped in front of Caroline, blocking her from the very angry looking Klaus.

Klaus took it as a possessive gesture and lunged at Kol.

Caroline screamed and tried to find help.

Guards were rushing in, dragging the brothers apart before the fight could even properly start.

"-just take my girl and I'll sit back and let you? I'll rip your liver out! I'll tear every organ from your body! You touch her again and I'll make you wish you were never born! You dare to-"

Rebekah and Henrik rushed into the room, mouths open in shock as they watched a snarling Klaus being held down by the guards. He kept trying to lunge at Kol.

Rebekah shoved her way through the pile of guards and slapped Klaus across the face. He bared his teeth and lunged forward as if he was going to bite her, but she didn't flinch. She hit him again. After that, he pulled back, confusion washing over his face as he assessed the room. The guards waited for a signal from Rebekah, and when she nodded, they stepped away.

Klaus sat crumbled on the floor, catching his breath. He looked down, ashamed.

"Do you have any idea how stupid you're being?" Rebekah hissed.

"I saw Kol, his hands were all over her. He and Elijah both are.. are... She doesn't want me, she wants them."

Rebekah nodded and glared at Klaus. "Henrik, you need to leave the room." she said.

"But-" Henrik protested.

"Go." she said. "All of you."

Caroline paused, but Henrik pulled on her arm to leave. Kol carefully stepped in a wide circle around Caroline, his eyes never leaving Klaus.

Rebekah waited until they were alone, except the guards in the shadows.

"Do you really for one second believe your own brothers would try to steal Caroline away from you?"

He just looked down.

"And do you honestly think that she would leave you for one of them?"

Klaus shrugged.

"I watched from the control room every day. I saw you scream, I saw your pain. I heard you yell at us when you thought we were in the room. I heard you beg us to forgive you, not to leave you. I heard you watch us die and I heard you threaten to kill us. I heard everything."

Klaus couldn't look up at her. He felt shame burn red on the back of his neck.

"It wasn't real. It's over. You need to learn to push away what you think you saw. Because it never happened. Do you want to know what really happened these last fifty two days?" Rebekah asked.

Klaus nodded.

"I watched from the other room. I came in once a day to visit you. That was all I could bear. The same goes for the rest of our family. That girl, that stupid, common little American, from a Council family at that. She barged into your room and got in bed with you. She held on to you when you were blind from the pain. She was right there and she never left. She fed you when you didn't even know who you were you were so gone. She was drenched in your sweat. You were disgusting and she held on to you and did the best any of us could to ease your pain."

"Did she really do that?" Klaus asked.

"I don't like her one bit." Rebekah said. "But I know she loves you. And lets face it, you haven't exactly made it easy for anyone to do that."

"I've scared her away, haven't I?"

"I think some apologies are in order. And you'll have to control your temper if you expect her to stick around. Control whatever it was that got in your brain these past weeks."

"Right. Apologies, of course."

"Starting with her neck." Rebekah said, shooting him a judgmental look.

"Her neck?"

"Like I said, I was in the control room often. You were having one of your hallucinations and she was hugging you, trying to sooth you through it. You went all wild in the eyes and bit her neck."

"That's impossible." Klaus said.

"No. I saw it. And I saw that little tart cover it up at lightening speed. And when I came in the room and tried to bring it up she lied to my face and said nothing happened. but she keeps fussing with her hair and making sure her left side of her neck is covered. I'm not stupid, Nik. I know what I saw."

"I hurt her?" he said, taking it in.

"I don't think she blames you. None of us blame you for what happened with the hunter venom in you. But you should still apologize."

Klaus remembered Caroline trying to run off the side of a mountain. Death being better than the alternative. He hadn't understood it until now.

"I hurt her."

"She's fine, Nik. You need to talk to her."

* * *

Kol, Elijah and Henrik sat around a table on the back porch. Kol and Elijah were smoking cigars and drinking from bottle of dark liquor. Henrik was fumbling with the buttons on his camera.

"If he keeps doing this..." Elijah started.

"He won't." Kol said. "He's just coming back to life. Lets give it some time."

"If he keeps doing this." Elijah repeated. "We have to have a plan."

"You're going to lock him up?" Henrik asked. "That makes you no better than the pigs who locked up Finn."

"It's not the same." Kol said. "We'd be doing it to protect him. To protect everyone. Until he's no longer a danger." he glanced at Henrik's indignant face. "That doesn't mean we;re going to do it."

"Unless we have to." Elijah said. "And not a word of this to Bekah, you know she would just tell him and that would make the whole thing messy."

"We're not going to do it." Kol said. "We won't let it come to that."

"Let's hope it doesn't." Elijah said. He checked his phone, and slid it back into his pocket. "I need to see Katherine. She and her brother have been waiting on the other side of town, and I've hardly left the house to visit. Now that Niklaus is in a more stable condition, I think it's possible for me to spend some more time with her."

"And that would leave Jeremy free to join me for a night on the town." Kol mused. "Since my real brothers seem to be preoccupied with women."

"I'll go with you." Henrik grinned.

"In a few years, kid. If mother found out, she'd have my skin."

"You're not turning him into you." Elijah sniffed.

"Because turning into a stuffy, suit wearing, overly groomed snob would be so much better." Kol scoffed.

"Don't be jealous that this stuffy, suit wearing, impeccably groomed snob is on his way to spend some quality time with his gorgeous girlfriend, and you're stuck having another boys night with her brother." Elijah retorted, getting up from the table.

"Old age sure has made him crabby." Kol said to Henrik.

* * *

Klaus paced around the hall, avoiding the other side of the door. She was in his room.

He heard her footsteps get closer to the door and considered running into another room. Anything to avoid facing her. To avoid facing his own shame. All his fears were tied to her, to losing her, to losing the loyalty he counted on from his family. To it all falling apart.

The door opened.

"Are you going to come in?" she asked.

He looked into the room. It was just her.

He stepped inside.

"I know you're feeling a little out of it, the thing with Kol. But you know what you saw wasn't real."

"It felt real. I woke up and you weren't there. I thought I dreamed you."

"Kol and Elijah convinced me to give you a little space. They were worried about you depending on me as you work through this."

"Don't listen to them." he said.

"But they're your brothers."

"I don't want to need you this much. Do you think I like feeling like this?"

"It's ok."

"It's not ok. I've made a life out of always having the upper hand, of always being two steps ahead. Now I'm asking you to hold my hand and keep me from going crazy and attacking my family. Do you think I like asking this of you?"

"You don't even have to ask."

"I don't want you to see me like this. I wish you weren't there to see me go through this. To look so weak."

"You were never weak. I never saw you that way."

"Did I ... hurt you? When I was hallucinating?"

"No, of course not." Caroline said. Her eyes darted down for a fraction of a second.

"We had one rule, sweetheart." he said, his expression serious.

"I'm fine." she whispered.

He took a step towards her and her hand went protectively over the hair that draped across her shoulder, covering the side of her neck.

"Caroline. We don't lie to each other."

"Klaus, it's nothing."

"Let me see."

She backed away a few steps. He followed, quickly backing her into a corner. She sighed when she realized she was trapped.

"You're not afraid of me." he said.

"No."

"But I... I bit you."

"You were hallucinating, and you were in pain. I knew the risk of getting so close."

He reached out and carefully pushed her hair away, revealing the spotty bruise with a few healed puncture marks. His fingers traced carefully over it.

"I'm sorry." he whispered.

"I love you." she whispered back.

"Will you ever forgive me?" he asked.

"Already done." she smiled.

"How can you love me?" he asked, "I'm a monster. I hurt you."

"I've been hurt by monsters before. You're not one of them."

He stopped the circles his fingers were tracing along her bruise and he lowered his head to kiss it. He left soft kisses all over the fading marks on her neck, trying to redeem himself somehow.

Her arms moved around him and pulled him closer.

He felt her pulse jump as he moved to the other side of her neck, sucking gently and leaving slow kisses across the side. Her fingernails pushed lightly into his skin. He wanted her to drag them hard down his back. He wanted to take her against the wall and have her writhing and screaming for him, unable to stop herself from doing it.

He broke away from her neck and claimed her mouth, breathing in the soft moans that came tumbling from her lips. Her lips were heaven, so soft and warm, coaxing out little joys as he kissed them over and over.

"I want you." she whispered against his mouth. "Please, Klaus. It's been so long. I need you."

He felt something stir within him. His sweet Caroline was making her intentions rather clear, and it made him want to rip every shred of fabric off her and pull her into his lap, watching her face as he slid into her. The dirty little fantasies were starting up, and she was making it worse, moving her body flush against him and swaying slightly, strategically pushing up against him.

Caroline backed away when he didn't respond.

"I'm sorry. Of course you're not in the mood for that. You're still recovering, and I know everything is freaking you out, I didn't mean to-" she said.

He smirked, watching her try to cover her embarrassment at her forwardness. She thought his pause meant he didn't want to. As if that was ever a possibility.

He picked her up and pulled her legs around his waist.

"I am very much in the mood, love." he said, kissing her.

"Oh." she smiled. "I just thought maybe... You were so angry before."

"I was jealous before." He corrected her, locking the door and turning on a stereo. The was probably no need for background noise when the rest of the family was currently in another wing, but better safe than sorry.

"Jealous?"

"I saw Kol touch you."

"You saw your brother joking around with me."

"I saw his hand on your skin. I saw you laugh at his story."

"You saw me being nice to your family."

"He can't have you. I won't let him."

"No one is taking me from you. You don't have to be jealous of anything."

He put her down so she was sitting on the bed.

"I was about to rip his arm off."

"As much as I think this whole jealous thing is kind of adorable, you need to calm down. I'm not going to do anything to ruin what we have."

He traced her bite mark again.

"I already have. Ruined it." he said.

"Maybe I should just bite you back, so we can be even and you can stop worrying about that." she joked.

He tilted his neck back.

"Have at it."

She swatted him and scooted back on the bed.

"Not going to do it?" he asked, pulling himself up on the bed so he was leaning over her. "So much for being my bloodthirsty little assassin."

"I don't want to hurt you."

"No, I rather like your idea." he hummed "Fair is fair, blood for blood."

His hands slid across her body as he teased her, tracing feather light touches.

"I'm not really going to do it." she protested.

She tried to distract him by getting back to what she had originally wanted. She ran her hands down his sides and pulled up on the hem of his shirt, pulling it up and over his head and throwing it on the ground. Her hands raked up and down his chest before he pulled her closer for a kiss and she dragged them down his back.

"How about this instead?" he suggested, putting his hand over hers on his back, wrapping his fingers around one of hers and pressing it down against his skin. She felt her fingernail pop through skin and gasped in horror.

"I think I just-" she started.

"Mmmhmm" he hummed, moving his hands under her shirt.

She breathed in sharply and arched her back to push herself closer. He smirked and quickly pulled her shirt off. He stroked up and down her back as he pulled her in for another deep kiss and she smiled against his lips as she felt him unhook her bra.

Heat washed over her body as his hands moved across her newly exposed breasts, his thumb rolling across a nipple. She whimpered lightly for him not to stop.

He moved one of her hands to his back, and traced it along the old scars and destroyed nerves.

"When I'm inside you, I want you to scratch my back as hard as you can."

"Won't that hurt?"

"No, I'll love it. As hard as you can, sweetheart. Can you do that?"

She paused and he rolled his hips against hers, their bottom halves still clothed, yet she could feel his length push against her through their clothes.

"Yes." she breathed.

"Good girl." he whispered. "Now you tell me what you want me to do."

She felt a blush creep up on her face.

He was unbuttoning her pants and sliding down the zipper.

"Now's not the time to be shy, love." He said. "Tell me what you want."

"You." she said, cupping his hardness over his pants.

He leaned against her touch, losing himself quickly. He pulled away to remove her pants, leaving her in nothing but a scrap of lace she dared to call underwear.

"And you will have me. But first..." he hinted.

"Your mouth." she gasped. "I want to feel your mouth on me."

He paused and she immediately regretted her bold request.

"I was really hoping you would say that." he grinned, knocking her back on the mattress. He kissed her once, then moved down her neck, trailing kisses across her collar bone as his hands played across her chest. When his mouth closed over a nipple his hand stroked gently over her underwear.

"Oh god." she whispered.

"I'm just getting started." he smirked.

He dipped his head lower and she felt her last bit of clothing being pulled away. His lips trailed across the inside of one of her legs as his fingers gently traced patterns. Then his mouth was on her and she couldn't help but let out a noise of appreciation. His tongue darted out and her eyes nearly rolled back in her head. Every move he made was bringing her towards release at rapid speed. Her hands buried in his hair as he continued his work, bringing her to bliss she didn't even know was possible.

A string of swear words tumbled from her lips as he brought her over the edge. He slowed his motions and gently moved away as she came down from it, gasping for breath.

"That's not fair. How can I ever possibly get mad at you when you can do that?"

"That's exactly the reaction I was going for."

"And you're still wearing pants." she said.

"We'll have to do something about that."

She had them unbuttoned before he could even finish his sentence, pushing them down hastily.

Her hand found his length as he kicked out of his clothes. He caught her sneaking a look down at it, her eyes lighting up at how big and hard he was for her.

Since she as already surprising him by delving into dirty talk, he decided to push his luck.

He groaned as her hand moved up and down his length, her lips parted slightly as she watched herself touch him.

"Do you like that?" he asked, as her hand stroked him.

"Mmmhmm." she hummed.

"Do you want it?"

"Yes."

"Tell me. Tell me why."

Her mouth opened but no words came out. She looked flustered, unsure of herself. He kew she wanted to play this game, but she didn't feel confident enough to try.

"I'll start." he suggested.

His hand moved across her breast. She let out a soft cry.

"I love that noise you just made. Your body is perfection. I love how your skin feels against my hand, and how you lean into me, begging for my touch." His fingers played across her chest again. "Are you begging, sweetheart?"

"Yes."

"I want to hear it."

"Please. Please touch me."

He bent his head to lick across her breast, taking her nipple into his mouth and sucking hard.

"Oh please, please."

He let go and moved his head up so his eyes were level with hers.

His hand slid down her stomach, pausing just above where she wanted him. His dark eyes watched her.

"Klaus." she whispered.

He sunk two fingers into her, curling up and slowly stroking in and out of her wet heat.

Her mouth hung open as she gasped for air.

"Look at me." he said. "Do you like how that feels?"

She could only nod.

"Only I can make you feel this way. No one else." his thumb circled over her clit and she groaned, holding on to him tighter. She could feel his thick erection brush against her leg as he toyed with her.

"Now back to what I like." he said, still moving his fingers in and out. "I like how wet you get for me, how tight you feel around my fingers. How delightful you feel around my cock. I like it when you get on top so I can feel you take all of me in, and I can watch myself slide in and out of you. I like when you let me have control, and you writhe under me, letting me show you exactly how I plan to make you mine forever. Because no one else can make you feel this way." he grabbed her chin and forced her to look him in the eyes. His fingers hooked up as the stroked her. Her breathing was getting quicker. "Look at me. I like it when you look at me when you're coming, look at me and know I'm the one that makes you feel this. Me and no one else. You're mine."

"Klaus I... I'm..."

"Yes." he replied, speeding up his movements. "Let yourself go. Just know who is doing this to you. You're mine."

"I'm yours." she panted out.

Then her face contorted and she gripped on to him tighter, as she pulsed around his fingers.

He felt a little of the panic drift away. A little of the unreasonable worry of her with Elijah or Kol or anyone else melted away as she looked him in the eye as he made her come undone again.

She held on to him as she regained her composure, still coming down from the high.

"Now I've told you what I like. Tell me what you like." he said.

Her hands shook as them moved down his body. He could tell she was still nervous about saying things out loud, self conscious of how she would sound.

"I like..." she found his length and let her hand slide across it. "I like how you feel against my hand. How hard and big you are. How you prolong it, when I'm dying for you to be inside me. How you know just how to make me feel what I want to feel."

He groaned and leaned into her hand.

"I like when you get jealous, like you are right now. How you think you can fuck me into being yours forever. This whole possessive thing is really bringing out your A game."

He raised an eyebrow, not expecting her to read into his actions so precisely.

"You know you don't need to. You already have me. I'm not going anywhere."

"I need to hear you say it."

"Then listen to me." she said. She moved her hands away from him and took his hands to press them against her skin. "Only you can touch me here." she moved his hands down. "Or here. Or here. And especially here. This is only for you. Because I'm always going to be with you and no one else. I left my home behind for you. I turned my back on my family and friends. I will never pick anyone over you. I will not leave. I will always want you."

He kissed her, knocking her back on the mattress, hands sliding all over her, marking a claim. He would make her say it again tomorrow. And again the next day. And again until he could finally let himself believe it was real. She was really here, and she was really choosing him.

"Now." she said, gently pushing him away. "I thought we were talking about what I like?"

"By all means." he smiled.

"Well." she started, and he basked in her newfound confidence as she was finally starting to get into this little game. "I like this tattoo" she said, tracing her fingers over it, and then kissing it. "And I like how you make this growly little noise when I pull you hair. And I like how your hands feel on me. I like how you feel." she moved her hand so it was wrapped around his length again, and he silently tried to think of anything else, so he could make this last a little longer. "And I like, no I _love_ how you taste."

"Pardon?" he said, teasing her.

She moved her fingers in a circle around the head of his dick, making him tense up and grit his teeth. She giggled at the reaction she was getting.

"I said, I love how you taste."

"Not quite following, sweetheart." he feigned.

"Am I going to have to show you what I mean?"

"I'm afraid so."

She pushed him so he was on his back and maneuvered herself over him.

She trailed little kisses down his stomach and smiled as she felt him tense up more as she got closer. Then her lips wrapped around the tip and he grunted through clenched teeth. She moved up and down with enthusiasm, her tongue flatted and pressing against a vein at the underside of his length. She could feel him getting even harder inside her mouth, impossibly warm and thick and deliciously smooth skin she loved to lick and suck at just to hear the noises he couldn't stop himself from making.

Then he was pulling her up and twisting them around so he was on top.

"I wasn't done." she huffed.

"I would have been if you kept going, and right now, I need to be inside you."

She hooked her legs around him hips and felt him lean down, his tip meeting her entrance. A burst of nerves fluttered through her stomach.

He watched in awe as he pushed into her. She gasped out and held on to him so tightly, letting out little noises that seemed like half pleasure and half pain as he slowly filled her. She was so tight around him he worried he might be hurting her, and he paused, only to be urged on by her.

"Don't stop." she whispered.

He pulled out a little and pushed back in, filling her completely.

She hummed out an appreciative noise and he pulled on her hips, angling her just the way he knew she liked it.

Her hands moved across his shoulders and down his back.

She was raising her hips to meet each thrust, moving in perfect sync with him. He started to grind against her with each movement, making her head spin.

"I'm close." she whimpered.

He was relieved, because he didn't know how much longer he could hold out.

Her nails were against his back.

"Now, sweetheart. As hard as you can."

She dragged her nails hard across his back. It sent a jolt through him, a delicious mix of pleasure and pain.

"More." he growled.

With each thrust into her she scraped her nails harder down his back. He felt a warm slickness and knew she had drawn blood. He wanted more.

"Again." he commanded.

She dug her nails across again, gasping at the way she could make him shudder.

He was pushing into her harder with each scrape across his back, picking up her hips and moving them for her as she started to lose control.

Caroline was now erratically scratching at him, shaking as she called out his name.

The moment she cried out his name as she began to pulse around him, he knew he could finally let go.

He pushed into her a few more times, riding out the waves of her pleasure as she scratched bloody ribbons across his back. Then he let go and he shuddered and gripped on to her harder as waves of pleasure pulsed through his body.

They held on to each other as they came down from it, exhausted and covered in a sheen of sweat.

He locked his arms around her and pulled her close as they both fought the sleep that approached.

"Be here when I wake up. Don't leave."

"I won't leave." she promised.

He held on tighter as he fell asleep.


	24. Chapter 24

**Wow! All these reviews, just wow! I seriously appreciate every single one so much, you guys have no idea. Thank you for reading and for sticking with this story! And thank you most of all for leaving reviews, I love them!**

* * *

Elijah and Kol found a place alone out in the yard. The horses were in the fields between where they stood and where the house stretched out, more fortress than anything else.

"What did mother say?" Kol asked.

"I presented the plan to her. She's skeptical, but willing to consider it."

"I'm not so sure." Kol said. "And if we tell Bekah, she won't like it one bit. Niklaus-"

"Niklaus doesn't get a say in things right now." Elijah interjected. "Not in his condition."

"Have you even asked Caroline?" Kol asked.

"Ask her?" Elijah scoffed.

"Yes, you know. Tell her the idea, see if she wants to do it."

"She does't have the luxury of wanting. If the plan falls to her ears, it will be carried out. She can't know the plan and not do it."

"Niklaus will kill you. He will literally kill you."

"I considered the other options. She's not the only new face staying here, but she's the one we can use."

"The Lockwood boy could pull it off." Kol suggested.

"You know he isn't nearly as smart as she is." Elijah protested. "Not by half."

"You have a girl of your own." Kol said. "And there's always Jeremy."

"No, Katherine doesn't work well with these kinds of people. She's underworld like up. And loud. She stands out too much. There's another part of the plan we'll need her for, with her particular skill set. Caroline and the Lockwood boy are both college graduates. They would blend much better in a white collar environment. Elena's the only Gilbert that wouldn't seem out of place, and she's not with us."

"What did Caroline go to school for?" Kol asked.

Elijah searched his brain.

"Graphic something, computer..., no, that's not it. Marketing? Public relations? Something like that."

"So nothing we can use. Why couldn't she have been a criminal justice major? Medicine?"

"It's enough. Besides, the Lockwood boy has a degree also, but we all know he just got pushed through classes because of his position on their silly little sports team. He doesn't have her charm or elegance."

"So we just send her in, just like that? We've had our people pacing around for years. Why her, why now?" Kol asked.

"Simple." Elijah said. "The information we need is right under our noses now. And we've never, until now, had someone with us who has no criminal record, no known ties to us, and who we can actually trust. She's the first person we can send in without being spotted who we actually can depend on to escort him out instead of killing him."

"So you do trust her?"

"As much as we can trust anyone who isn't us. She had her chance to leave. Several of them. I don't think she's going to."

* * *

Klaus didn't open his eyes right away. He was awake, but still exhausted. Everything was still so uncertain.

His arm slid across smooth skin, and he pulled her closer. He breathed in. His cheek pressed against her shoulder.

He pulled her tighter, close to him, enveloped in the warmth of a tangle of sheets.

"Morning." Caroline grumbled.

He smiled at the sound of her voice.

She twisted around in his arms to face him. He let his hands run down her sides. He frowned slightly as he felt fabric. She must have gotten up at some point in the night to get dressed.

"Wake up." she hummed.

He grumbled and squeezed his eyes tighter shut.

He felt light touches trace along his sides, up his chest, through his hair.

His lip twitched, a dead giveaway, but he wanted to make her work for it more.

He felt her sit up next to him and sigh in frustration.

"I know you're awake." she whispered.

"No, not awake." he mumbled.

She pushed aside the sheet. He felt a leg swing over his side as she pulled herself over him, curling against his chest.

"You're still naked." she said.

"You're not." he pouted.

"I got up to get some water last night." she said.

His eyes opened. He took his time, scanning her, taking in every detail. His fingertip traced along the thin strap of her tank top. He got lost in thought, every memory required sorting. There were the ones that really happened and the ones that never did.

"Last night, when I woke up..." she started.

"Hmm?" he asked, snapping out of his thoughts.

"I got some water, and I came back. You looked like you were having some kind of nightmare. I waited for you to wake up, I thought about waking you but I didn't know if I should. And then it just stopped, and you were sleeping, and you seemed fine."

"I am. Everything is fine." he insisted.

"It's not, though." she said. "And I don't know what to do."

"It's fi-"

"Don't tell me it's fine." she said. "Don't say it. I know it's not true."

"It's getting better." he said. "I don't want you to worry."

"Is it really?"

"Yes. Every day is a little easier. It's just memories. They're not even real. Yours are real."

"What do you mean?"

"When we first... when this all started, I wanted to help you. I wanted to fix things for you. I didn't even know you. I didn't understand why I cared. I just knew you were important."

"You did help me. It's my turn to help you."

"I didn't do enough."

"You saved my life. You kept me safe."

"Entirely selfish, I assure you."

She sat up and moved to his side. He smirked at her as he pushed himself up and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

"Oh my god!" she gasped.

"What?"

"Your back! It's all..."

It was shredded to ribbons, long red lines from Caroline's fingernails dug in haphazard lines in every direction.

He craned his neck over his shoulder and moved one hand across his back, tracing a fresh scratch from last night.

He smirked at her.

Caroline clapped a hand over her mouth and shook her head.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"No, I enjoyed that, I asked you to do it."

"It looks like it hurt."

"Good hurt." he said, pulling on a pair of shorts and walking over to the window to see what it looked like outside.

"Good hurt?"

"Precisely."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"I guess I'll just have to show you." he said, making his way back over to where she sat on the bed.

Caroline felt her stomach do a flip as he walked back over to her with that look in his eye. He was looking at her like he wanted to devour her.

He kissed her once, firmly on the lips before breaking away to kiss down her neck. Once he found a spot she responded to with a soft sigh, he wrapped his hand around the other side so she couldn't move, and sucked hard on the spot.

Caroline gasped at the sharp jolt of both pain and pleasure.

He licked a line across the spot, letting cold air send a chill through her, soothing, then he sucked hard again, and again, without letting up.

She could feel her whole body rushing with heat in response. The thought that he might leave a mark flashed briefly though her mind, but as he continued the idea was pushed away and replaced by a feeling of hot bliss at his motions.

"Do you like that?" he whispered.

"Mmmm." she responded. "Don't stop."

"Do you understand 'good hurt' now?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Do you want more?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Then tell me. Say it."

She pulled away to look him in the eye. After last night, she understood better what worked him up. He liked it when she asked him for what she wanted. He liked when she looked him in the eye as he gave her exactly what she needed. He needed her focusing on him as she shuddered with bliss. She knew it was probably some macho thing, getting off on being able to get her off, getting off on her needing him, although it was rooted in his deepest insecurities. He was never the person anyone truly wanted, he was just a temporary entertainment. Women would brag in secret to their friends about their crazy night with the Wolf, but none of them really saw him. He was feared, but not loved, he was powerful but lonely.

She understood him better than anyone. She knew he felt alone even with a family that was loyal and followers who would die for him. He clung to her, and at the same time loathed himself for needing her. So when he requested it, she would make it clear that she needed him. Only him.

"Please, Klaus. I want more."

"More what?" he smirked. He was baiting her, trying to lure her into what she was already planning on doing. He wanted to hear her spout filthy phrases, outline exactly what she wanted him to do to her, so long as she stressed that it was him she wanted. Only he could make her feel what she needed.

He backed away from her, lowering himself into a chair on the other side of the room.

She felt a wave of panic as his feral side took over. It was so easy to forget who he was, how dangerous he was. Now he was watching her like he was hunting her.

"More what?" he repeated, from the other side of the room.

She swallowed. "More of the good hurt. I want more."

"Do you trust me?"

"Yes." she whispered. She looked across the room at him, wanting to close the distance, but terrified to move.

"Then why are you so afraid?"

"I don't know what to expect."

"All part of the fun. Now stand up."

She slid off the foot of the bed and stood on wobbly legs.

"Take it off." he commanded.

She hesitated and watched as his smirk grew. He was enjoying pushing her out of her comfort zone.

"I want you to take it off and walk over here. Slowly." he specified.

She took a deep breath and reached for the hem of her shirt. She pulled it over her head and dropped it on the floor. His eyes raked across her naked chest. She started to put a foot forward.

"Shorts too, sweetheart. Take everything off."

She looked across the room to where he sat. Expectantly, regal, he watched and waited, commanding her. She had never expected something so unnerving to feel so good.

His eyes followed her hands as she slipped off the last of her clothes. To toy with him a little, she let her hands graze across her skin, fingers moving close to where she wanted to be touched, but not quite. He took a sharp breath in as he watched her fingers graze across her inner thigh. She bit her tongue to keep from smiling.

She took her time walking over to him, watching him stare at her without shame.

When she reached him, he pulled her knee to force her to straddle him, making her feel his thick erection through the thin fabric of his shorts.

She gasped as he pressed her against himself, creating delightful friction, making her anticipate what he had planned.

"I want you." she whispered.

"And you'll have me. But first, let me show you pain and pleasure."

She whimpered as he slightly rolled his hips, making her feel his length press against her.

His hand slid up her body to caress her breast, gently pulling at her nipple. Now she continued the rocking motion, eager to keep the friction between them.

His fingers were working across her chest, exploring her body. He rolled his finger across one nipple and pinched it, making her cry out. His other hand slid down her body, reaching her core. she pressed herself against his hand, begging for more, as he smirked at how wet she was for him. He dipped a finger down, tracing circles where she wanted it, making her more frantic in her motions against him. As she cried out in pleasure he pulled roughly at her nipples, sending concurrent waves of pleasure and pain through her. Then he stopped.

She wanted to protest, but his hand slid across her backside, gently squeezing the flesh and stroking it. She could tell what he wanted to do, but he was wary of crossing a line by being the one to bring it up.

"How about showing me another type of 'good hurt'?" she asked.

"Do you want me to?" he asked.

"Yes." she said. Even though it was something she had never tried, she wanted it now. She wanted to feel jolts of pain and pleasure all at once.

"Be a good girl and bend over my lap."

She felt completely exposed for him, bending into the submissive position, allowing him full control.

His hand lazily trailed down her back until he gripped a handful of flesh, then relaxed his palm against her. Without warning, he swatted her lightly.

"Harder." she commanded.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes. Harder."

He heeded her request and swatted at her harder. She moaned and pressed against him.

He slid his free hand under her, finding her center. He began to gently stroke her as he prepared to swat her again.

He swatted her again and when she moaned he slipped a finger inside her. She shuddered and rocked against his hand. He swatted again and she moaned louder as he moved a second finger inside her.

She moved from her position and gripped on the side of his shorts as she stood in front of him. He lifted his hips obligingly as she slipped them down, dropping to her knees as she moved the shorts past his ankles.

Her face was inches away for his achingly hard length, but she wasn't making her move.

He held his breath waiting.

"Well." She said, playfully mocking his vocal inflections, "Tell me what you want."

"Caroline." he grunted.

"Tell me." she said, her hand sliding up his thigh.

"Your mouth on me." He gasped out.

She raised an eyebrow and licked her lips. She kissed the inner side of his knee and worked her way up his thigh, and then she stopped.

He exhaled in frustration.

"Is this not what you meant?" she said playfully.

"Sweetheart. You're killing me."

"Then tell me. What you want."

"Your mouth around my cock." he blurted out.

She smiled and leaned closer. He felt her breath first, then the warmth of her lips closing over him, sliding up and down. As soon as he relaxed to enjoy the feeling, he let his head drop back and his eyes close.

She stopped instantly. His head snapped back down.

She looked up at him expectantly.

"I want you to watch me." she said. "And I want you to finish inside my mouth."

His knees buckled at her bold words.

"I...If I do that, I won't be able to... not right away."

"I'm sure you can find another way to help me out." she said. "Can't you?"

He nodded.

"Good. Now let me take care of you first."

He nodded again, wondering if he was in some kind of dream.

She let her tongue drag across the tip, her eyes fluttering closed as if she was enjoying the taste of him. Then her lips closed around him again. He watched in awe as he slid in and out of her mouth, as she glanced up at him, locking his gaze as she sucked him off.

He felt the tightening that started right before, his toe curled and he stammered out some kind of warning right before he felt himself empty into her mouth.

He watched her smile and wipe the the side of her mouth as he came back to his senses.

The second she moved away he had her over one shoulder and flung on her back on the bed. He held her in place as he kissed down her body and hooked her legs over his shoulders.

He traced his mouth everywhere except where she wanted, and smiled against her skin as she wiggled and squirmed in frustration.

Then just as she was about to beg him, his mouth met her core.

"Oh." she gasped out.

His tongue darted out and traced figure eights, waiting until she got used to the pattern, then switching his technique. She gasped as he slipped a finger inside her, then a second. He curled them up, touching her just where she wanted it most, making her pulse quicken and her breathing go ragged.

"Klaus. Oh god. I think I'm going to. Oh!"

He coaxed her through as she fell apart, drawing out her orgasm.

She pulled the sheet around herself as he moved up to face her, curling an arm behind her neck.

"You're really, really, good at that." she said.

"I know." he smirked.

She shoved him in the chest and laughed.

He pulled her closer, tucking his chin against her shoulder.

"I was thinking, today we sh-" he started.

Just then the door swung open.

"Niklaus, are you- HOLY BUTTS!"

Kol stood in the doorway, arm outstretched so he could point at Klaus's rather exposed backside.

Caroline shrieked and pulled the sheet tighter around herself.

"Nik, put that thing away!" Kol protested.

"Do you ever knock?" Klaus demanded.

"Do you ever PANTS?" Kol responded.

"That doesn't even make sense." Klaus pointed out, grabbing at a blanket to cover his lower half.

"Go away!" Caroline demanded.

"Oh, hello Caroline." Kol said, craning his neck to get a better look at her. "You looks well."

"Look again and you won't have eyes." Klaus said.

"Going away now." Kol said.

Klaus glared as Kol scurried down the hall, doubling back to get one more look at them and then closing the door.

"I miss your apartment." Caroline said.

"No one has a key, especially not Kol." Klaus said.

"That sounds nice." she said. "None of your siblings have a key?"

"None of them. I suppose one person should have a key, however."

She tilted her head.

"You." he clarified.

"Really?" she smiled.

A key was such a normal relationship milestone. It seemed so odd in the sense of who they were. They had already been through so much together in such a short period of time.

"Yes." he said. "I want you to have a key because... Because I want you to live there."

"You want me to live at your place?"

"Or anywhere, really. As long as I'm there too."

She let the idea sink in.

"You want us to live together?"

"We never really talked about it. But you have a choice. You can go back to Mystic Falls, although that is the one place I wouldn't be welcome. You can stay here, you can go somewhere else. Whatever you want."

"I want to see the world. I want to go places with you, and figure out what I'm supposed to be doing. I can't go back to my old life after all this. I like who I am with you. This is the first time in my life I've felt strong."

"So we'll see the world." he said. "I'll have to come back here every so often, obligations to the family, but we can spend most of our time traveling. Wherever you want. Where do you want to go first?"

"Right now, I just want to go to your apartment. Where Kol can't interrupt."

"We call it a flat over here, love. And it's _our_ flat now."

"Then lets go back to our flat, Nik." she joked.

His eyebrows quirked at her choice of words.

"Oh, sorry." she said, shaking her head. "I don't know. I hear them call you it, Kol and Rebekah, I guess it stuck in my brain."

"I like it." he said. "You can call me that."

"I thought it was only a name for them to use. Elijah doesn't even call you that. He always calls you Niklaus."

"I never cared for the name Niklaus. My fa- my, uh. Mikael picked the name. Most people call me Klaus, but there is a certain reputation attached to it. Klaus is the Wolf. The bastard son of the Black Widow. Nik is who I am to just a few people. The few who know me best."

"And I'm one of them?"

"You are." he said "You are, most of all."

She smiled at him and they enjoyed a few minutes of silence, other than occasional yells as Kol and Katherine fought about something across the hall and Rebekeh yelled up the stairs to one of the housekeepers.

Eventually, he got up. He found some clothes on the floor and threw them on, going back to the bed to kiss her forehead.

"I'm going to take you somewhere tonight."

"Back to our flat?"

"Yes, but before that. Somewhere else."

"Where?"

"Surprise." he said.

"Any hints?" she asked.

"None whatsoever." he said, and hurried out of the room.

* * *

Katherine tried to shake the excess glitter off herself as she walked out the back door and into the parking lot. She spotted the darkened windows and flung the passenger door open.

"Did you get it?" Elijah asked.

"Of course." she said, and reached in her pocket.

The driver pulled away.

She dropped the flash drive into his hand.

"And the one to replace it?"

"Right where I swiped this one."

"You're sure he didn't notice?"

"I think something else was on his mind at the moment." she smirked.

Elijah pouted and tried to think of something to say that wouldn't earn him a kick to the face.

"Next time I have to pick someone's pocket, can you find someone who doesn't go to such low end strip clubs?"

"We're lucky one of the people with the clearance is within a thousand miles. Besides, do you think for one second I enjoyed sending you in there? And not even being able to go in with you?"

"We both know they would spot a Mikaelson a mile away." she said. "And you're not the one who had to sit on his sweaty disgusting lap."

"I'm going to douse you in disinfectant when we get back." he groaned. "I don't know what's worse. My mother being the one to come up with this plan, or you actually agreeing to it."

"Maybe it'll get her to stop looking at me like I'm about to poison everyone."

"Well, to be fair, she isn't exactly fond of the sudden influx of Mystic Falls in our home."

"Like I have any claim to that place anyway. I graduated high school there and thats about all. Even then I spent half my time stoned out of my mind just so I could be somewhere else."

"You're still wearing the shoes." he said, looking down at the stripper heels she had managed to walk to the car in. They were deadly looking chunks of clear lucite with little blinking lights in the soles and a slot for tips built in.

"You're really thinking about my shoes when I just swiped you years worth of coding that can lead to finally being able to break your brother out of jail?"

"Kol and Jeremy will sort through the coding. Will you keep the shoes on?"

"So your mother can hate me even more for prancing through her fancy house in cheap stripper shoes ?"

"Oh no, you're staying in the car. I'm getting out only long enough to hand Kol the flash drive. Then you and I are going straight to my flat."

"Someone's feeling bossy."

"I just had to sit idly by as my girlfriend the master thief used a lap dance to swipe information to me. I'm not bossy, I'm furious."

"At me?"

"No, at everyone who got to look at you in whatever's under that coat. And especially at the man who got to feel you dancing on him, touching him."

"If it's any consolation, his own people will probably kill him when they find out we swiped his information."

"The only consolation would be removing the eyes and hands of anyone who looked or touched."

"Or we could just go to your flat and I can show you what's under the coat. It's red and sparkly, and I'm going to get stripper glitter all over your pristine sheets."

"Does this thing go any faster?" Elijah barked at the driver.

* * *

Caroline was looking for Rebekah. She was out of things to wear, and Bekah was her only hope at something decent to borrow for whatever surprise outing Klaus had in mind. In fact, she was probably the best brain to pick about what could be up his sleeve. He seemed to have a special connection with his baby sister.

She turned the corner of the hallway and smacked into another body.

"Ah, we have to stop meeting like this." Kol said.

"Go away, I'm busy."

"Busy trying to grub something to wear off Bekah? Because you need to look pretty for the surprise Nik's taking you on?"

"Yes." she answered, narrowing her eyes at him suspiciously.

"I know all." Kol smirked.

"Like where he's taking me?"

"I could probably give you the two or three most likely places."

"I still have to get something to-"

"Wear?" he interrupted. "I have that too. Follow me, darling."

Kol walked through the halls and found a hidden room near the garages.

"Butler's pantry of sorts." he explained.

It was a tiny room that had stacks of packages, rows of keys, a shelf of cleaning supplies and other odds and ends. There was a coat rack that had a few coats hanging on it and one long garment bag.

"Just as I suspected." Kol said.

"What's that?"

"Looks like Nik already took care of finding you something to wear. He probably had it sent back to the house, it always goes here first, then gets delivered up to the room. See? This package over here is something Rebekah ordered online. These letters are today's mail."

"Can I see the thing in the bag? I want to know what I'm wearing."

"Patience. Lets go back to my room, where the only cameras are the ones I put there. I have something very delicate to speak to you about."

They walked back up to Kol's bedroom. Caroline felt slightly uneasy behind behind a closed door with him. She wasn't sure where this was going.

Unable to keep her curiosity in check, she unzipped the garment bag.

"Oh wow." she said.

The dress inside was a gorgeous beaded strapless gown in a shimmering champagne color. It was fitted but flared out at the bottom. the intricate beading made it look regal and impossibly expensive.

"Just as I suspected." Kol said, looking over at the dress. "He wants to show you off."

"Show me off?"

"The fancy dress means fancy places. He's taking you somewhere where you'll be seen. The insecure little pup he is, Niklaus wants everyone to see you two together, probably make sure you get photographed together. He wants the public to know you're with him. People might think you're just arm candy the first time, but if you're seen with him more than once, you'll be treated differently by those in the know. They'll consider you one of us, and they'll consider you _his_."

Caroline smiled. "That sounds like him."

"You're not going to go." Kol said. "Nik will be very saddened, I'm sure, but you're going to miss this date."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because I have a favor to ask you. Perhaps the greatest favor anyone could ask anyone. Not just for me, but for my entire family."

"I'm listening." Caroline said.

Kol walked over to a table and picked up a framed photo. It was all the Mikaelson siblings together. Henrik was just a toddler. Caroline knew from Henrik's age that this was only shortly after Mikael died. They all looked so happy and relaxed.

Kol pointed out the one face she hadn't seen around.

"Nik never talks about Finn." he said. "But he's family. And he's been in that box for years. We haven't found a way to get him out, to get someone close enough. But today, we managed to get new information."

"Ok." Caroline said.

"We have codes, security clearances, access to a database at the prison and with the corresponding hospitals. Finn is moved from his cell to a medical facility within the prison once every two weeks. He's given a check, a psychological screening, things like that. There's a three minute window we can work with, and we just got the map that can help us slip him out in that short amount of time."

Caroline nodded.

"We have the ability to get someone on the inside." Kol said. "We can hack the employment pages, and make everyone think that someone else hired someone. We can make someone look like a qualified employee. What I'm asking you... I'm asking you to go in there and bring my brother home."

"Why me?"

"Because you're not made yet. No one has marked you as one of us so far. These people know who we are and who's with us. But you've hardly been in public at all for months. Unless you go to that fancy event with Nik tonight, no one will match your face to us."

"I'm not the only one you can use. Surely there's someone better. Someone with training."

"We're not looking for a solider. The people that work with Finn in that prison are white collar types. Intelligent, educated, law abiding citizens. We think you would blend into that world better than anyone else we have."

"I'm going into a maximum security prison, under false pretenses, and smuggling out one of the world's most famous criminals?"

"We'll help you every step of the way."

"And Ni- and Klaus knows about this?"

"No." Kol said simply. "We would whisk you out there without telling him, get you trained on the plane ride over. You and I both know he would object to you being in such a precarious position."

"Am I really the best person for this?" Caroline asked.

"Yes." said Kol. "You're our only hope of pulling this off."

"I'll do it."

"Good." Kol said. "We need to leave right now."

* * *

Klaus arrived home with an hour to spare before they would go back out.

"Caroline" he shouted as he walked through the halls. "Caroline, where are you? did you get the dress?"

Henrik was sitting on one of the sofas, fiddling with his camera.

"Have you seen Caroline?" Klaus asked.

"The girls are on the back porch." Henrik said.

Klaus walked briskly onto the back porch. Katherine and Rebekah were having a quiet conversation, not quite friendly and familiar, but possibly on their way to it.

"Where's Caroline?" he asked.

"She left." Rebekah shrugged.

"Left?" he said.

"Not like left, left." Katherine chimed in. "She just went out for a little bit with Kol and Elijah."

"Why would she do that? We had plans."

"Oh, she said to give you this." Katherine said, pulling a note from her pocket.

Klaus unfolded it.

**_Nik- I'm sorry I had to go without saying goodbye. Please don't worry. Your brothers are keeping me safe and I'll be back soon. I love you. - Caroline_**

"She calls you_ Nik _now?" Rebekah said teasingly.

He glared at her.

"Of course we were going to read it." Katherine said.

"What is the meaning of this? What are our brothers doing?" Klaus asked Rebekah.

"I don't know." she said. "Elijah and Kol, the two of them and mother have something going on, but they won't tell me. They said they knew I would tell you if I was in on it."

He saw red the entire march across the house to his mother's home office. Security guards jumped out of the way as he flung the doors open.

Esther looked up from her desk.

"What have you done?" he roared.


	25. Chapter 25

** Sorry this update took so long, life has been crazy. Thank you all so so much for staying with this story and especially for taking the time to leave reviews. We're wrapping up, but it's not quite done yet. Stay tuned. ;)**

* * *

Caroline fumbled with the keycard as she tried to mimic the swipe and code pattern.

"You're getting worse." Kol warned.

She slammed the card down on the seat next to her.

"Well, what do you want me to do?"

"For starters, you can stop being so emotional about it all."

"Oh, wow. You just told me that I'm pretty much your brother's only chance of escaping jail, but only if I go right now, and don't mess a single thing up."

"You're making it worse." Elijah said to Kol. He turned to Caroline. "Just breathe. Imagine what you're doing is very boring. You do this every day. It's routine. Go."

Caroline flipped the card again, swiped it and typed in the code.

"Good." Elijah said. "Now what?"

"The door slides open." she said. "I walk through and look to my right for the guard stand. His name is Randy. I introduce myself as Miranda's replacement."

"Good." Elijah said, "And then?"

"Straight through the next set of doors, I'll probably get patted down by security, because the x ray won't be able to scan me. I still don't get it. How do you know it won't scan me, and see the key and the needle?"

Kol laughed. "I'd be happy to help with this part."

"Enough, Kol." Elijah said. "Caroline, we have a lotion, it has a lot of finely ground metals. It'll block the machine from reading your body properly. They'll think it's a malfunction and use a wand or physical patdown instead. You'll be carrying very small, very discreetly hidden instruments, so they won't find it in any patdown they'd give a professional. Employees don't get the full body search like felons."

"Is it safe?"

"None of this is safe. But you'll be fine. You can rinse it off on the flight back."

"What if something happens? What if I can't get to him?"

"You have to." Kol insisted. "We can't even think of the possibility. Just focus on the map. Get it in your brain."

"Its not the getting in you should be worried about." Elijah said. "It's the getting out."

* * *

The door bounced back loudly against the wall.

Esther blinked and tightened her lips into a hard line. She wanted to scold him for the dent he just made in her office wall. However, he had just come back from near death, and it wasn't like this was the first time one of her children punched a hole in their mansion. The butlers had buckets of spackel and paint ready.

"What. Did. You. Do." he growled.

Esther sighed and leaned back in her chair. She gave her son a pitying look.

"Answer me!" he shouted.

"I did what needed to be done." She said quietly. "For the good of the family. Family above all."

"You sent her. Where?"

He was shaking. His fists curled up and tucked behind his back, hidden from her view.

He swallowed and stabilized himself, pushing back the anger.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"It was our only chance. You have to know, it was our only chance."

"Only chance for what?"

"Finn."

"What are you talking about?"

"She was what we needed, the timing was right, we had to do it without you, or you would try to stop it. This is Finn. Your brother. We finally found a way."

Klaus paused, nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. The eerie calm of it was unnerving.

Rebekah and Katherine watched as he silently walked across the house, looking straight forward as he made his way to one of the formal dining rooms.

He picked up a china vase and weighed it in his hands, rolling it back and forth in his palms. Then he threw it against a wall, sending slivers of porcelain back at himself, skittering on the marble floors.

He opened the china cabinet and started with the champagne glasses, smashing each one against the wall or floor, them moved on to plate, decorative ornaments, bowls, tea cups. He picked up an entire tray of silverware and flung it hard across the room, leaving several forks and knives embedded in the table.

He pulled drawers out of cabinets, flipped the table, kicked over chairs, punched the walls.

Finally he was catching his breath, nothing left to break.

He stumbled against a wall, and slipped down, looking at the mess he had created.

Klaus felt the sweat run cold and heard the footsteps of people trying to make it seem like they weren't pacing just outside the door. He pressed his hand down against the floor and felt the slivers of broken glass push into his skin. He held his hand up and looked at it, speckled with blood and glass that caught the light.

The pacing continued, pauses at the doorway.

Klaus listened to the pattern and knew who it was. He dusted the glass off his bleeding hands and opened the door.

Henrik cautiously took a step into the room. Klaus looked around at what he had done gain, and the mess suddenly seemed childish.

"I didn't know." Henrik said. "I just saw her leave with Elijah and Kol. I didn't know where they were going."

Klaus kicked a chunk of broken plate.

Henrik set two of the chairs upright and sat in one. Klaus begrudgingly sat in the other. Henrik shrugged the camera strap off and put the camera in his lap. Klaus held out his hand to reach it, and Henrik handed it over.

Klaus silently flipped through the digital files until he found one of Caroline. Henrik had been sneaking pictures of everyone and everything. There was one of Caroline with Rebekah, neither of them completely at ease, but they seemed to be wrapped up in a friendly conversation. Another of Caroline and Kol, having some kind of argument. Kol was smirking and Caroline was glaring at him. Klaus flipped though pictures of all of them, hundreds from the last few days, the snapshots a collection of tiny moments, Henrik's way of dealing with it all, processing the rift in their lives.

There were several of the days that had gone by in blurs and dreams. Mother pacing in her office, Elijah staring blankly into a mirror as he adjusted his tie for the fifth time in an hour. Rebekah drinking. Kol drinking. All of them drinking, sitting in a row, unable to look at each other, and choosing numbness.

One of Katherine and Jeremy hugging. Another of them holding hands, leaning against a wall with tense faces.

Klaus realized that they were probably tense from listening to him scream and fight with invisible demons.

"Do you think all the families are like that, where they're from?" Henrik asked.

"I don't know." Klaus said.

"They hug a lot." Henrik said. "They say 'I love you' and they hug. We don't do that."

"We don't have to." Klaus said. "we don't need to say it."

"I said it when you were sleeping." Henrik said. "I thought maybe we do need to say it."

Klaus looked stunned. He had no idea Henrik had ever been in the room. And he had never bothered with such silly sentimental things. He had never told Henrik he loved him. Why would he? They were family. It was known. It didn't need to be said.

"I didn't stay long. Mother only let me go in once." Henrik said. "It was horrible. You were in so much pain. Do you remember what it felt like?"

"No." Klaus lied. "Just a distant memory."

"You weren't you. You were something else in your skin."

"I'm back now."

"I know what we do isn't normal or safe. And I think... I thought that eventually one of us would die from it. I thought it was you, when this happened."

"It'll be her." Klaus said. "It's never the person who deserves it."

"She's going to be fine." Henrik said. "Kol and Elijah-"

"Kol and Elijah don't love her. They see her as a means to an end, a way to get Finn back."

"Don't you want Finn back? I don't even remember him, its been so long."

Klaus looked down.

Henrik shook his head. "I don't think this is good. But he's our family."

"I don't care." Klaus said. "Not like this."

Klaus flipped through the camera. There were thirty pictures in a row of the door he had been behind. Not a single one of what was on the other side. The pictures of the door were scattered throughout the photos. He realized that Henrik had been marking the days. That his little brother had stayed close, even if he couldn't bring himself to cross the doorway.

He nodded to his brother, handing back the camera.

They shared a moment of silence. The words hung in the air, never spoken. Mikaelsons didn't tell each other they loved them.

"What is it like?" Henrik asked.

"What?"

"You know... the whole... It's just, it's changed you. And it's different than when Tatia was around, or any of Bekah's boys. But Elijah, it's the same thing with him and Katherine. Both of you are different now. Happier, and like... I don't understand how you can care about someone so fast."

"I didn't think I was capable of this. I didn't think I wanted it. But now I ..." Klaus stopped himself. He took a pained breath, the broken room around him reminding him that she wasn't here, and that she might not come back, and there was nothing he could do about it. "If something happens to her, I don't, I won't be able to-"

"Nothing is going to happen to her." Henrik said. "Elijah and Kol will make sure of it."

"How can you be so certain?"

"Because the world isn't that bad." Henrik said. "After all the things that were bad, you deserve to be happy, and she makes you happy. The world won't take this away."

"I wish I had your faith."

"I wish I had your biceps."

Klaus laughed. "You're still growing."

"I keep getting taller, but I can't put on any muscle. Even with the nasty stuff Kol drinks."

Klaus laughed again. "It'll happen. Just give it time. And you're going to be taller than me. Taller than Finn even."

"What is he going to be like? If we- When we get him back?"

"He's been in the box for years. He's not the same brother I remember. He'll be someone different. He's still our family."

"Is she our family too?"

"Who, Sage? I suppose we should give her a call and..."

"No." Henrik clarified. "Caroline."

Klaus paused. He thought about it for a moment.

"Family is for life, and just because you're dating someone doesn't mean they're family. I don't want you to think every girl you like is on the same level as your family. And she probably won't want to be with me for life. She'll get smart and find something better."

"Will you kill her? If she does?"

Klaus knew it was the most logical thing for anyone to assume he would do. He probably would have if it was anyone else. He had come so close to killing Tatia, only sparing her for Elijah's sake.

"No. I would... I would let her go, it that was what she truly wanted."

"Let her go, just like that?"

Klaus shook his head. "No, not just like that. I'd probably let her think I let her go, to make her happy. But I'd be watching, I'm sure. Keep her safe. Maybe send some guards to keep an eye on her, do checks on the people she's around."

"For how long?" Henrik asked.

Klaus pictured himself, seventy, sitting in a control room, sending men with earpieces out to get footage of Caroline, oblivious of the watchers, out living her happy life with her children and grandchildren. Maybe a husband that could treat her better.

"For life." he said.

"Then she is family, isn't she?" Henrik asked.

"She is for me." Klaus said.

"Then she is for me too."

* * *

Caroline was sweating in the freezing cold air conditioned hallway. She could feel a trail of it drip down her back and stick to her shirt. Her hands were shaking. This wasn't going to work. It repeated over and over in her head. It wouldn't work.

She itched her head and brown gunk got stuck under her fingernails. They had thrown temporary dye into her hair, stuff that would wash out easily. The contacts were making her eyes raw and red, and she was certain they would notice. This was a maximum security prison. Most people didn't even know the location.

"Alright Bonnie, You're clear."

"Huh?" she asked.

"You're clear." the guard repeated. "Must have been some malfunction with the scanner."

"Oh. Right." she nodded.

Caroline played with her badge. A picture of her brunette, brown eyed self looked back at her, along with the ID number and the name Bonnie Pierce.

"You know the way?" the guard asked her.

"Oh yeah, Miranda filled me in when we met up last week."

"Perfect." Randy smiled. "Tell her to send pictures after she has the kid, will ya?"

"Of course." Caroline smiled back.

Randy waved her away and she made her way down the hall.

* * *

Elijah ignored the ringing in the background as he followed the blinking dot on the screen.

"She's in." he muttered.

"Niklaus won't give it a rest." Kol said.

Elijah picked up the phone with a sigh.

"You know this only compromises the safety of a certain individual?" Elijah said as he picked up.

"I'm aware of the dangers of insecure lines." Klaus said.

"Then why are you calling? You know we can't give you an update without risking everything."

"I'm giving you an update."

"Is that so?"

"Yes. Know this, Elijah. If a single thing goes wrong, if for one moment there is any possibility of... Just know that I will do worse to you."

"What ever happened to family above all?"

"If you weren't family, I'd be mapping out your death as we speak."

"We'll know soon, Niklaus. I'll contact you once everything is secure."

Elijah clicked off the phone.

Across an ocean, Klaus smashed his fist through a wall.

* * *

The sallow, pale man sat chained to the desk. Cameras were in all four corners of the room, blinking red lights indicating they were on. He flicked back an overgrown strand of hair.

They cut his hair less often than other prisoners because he couldn't be trusted in the room with someone who had scissors, even if he was chained up. The first hairdresser ended up nearly headless and he had made it halfway down the hall before the swat team got him under control.

Now whenever it was time for Finn Mikaelson to get a haircut, he had to be double sedated and chained and strapped, just to be certain.

He looked at the doorknob expectantly, waiting for the usual case worker to come in and give him his monthly update.

It was one of the few things that got him out of his isolated little cell that was thirty floors below ground, so he savored every moment of the slight change of atmosphere.

The girl who walked in wasn't Miranda.

He tensed.

She could be anyone.

"Finn?" she asked softly.

He nodded haughtily.

All at once the red lights turned off the camera. There was a loud click as the locks deactivated, including the one fastening his chains to the floor.

His eyes went wild.

"Your family sent me. I'm here to get you out."

"How do I know you're not slipping me out to kill me?"

She pulled a long needle like key out of her bra and set it on the table.

"I would have plunged this through your neck before the locks came off if I wanted to kill you."

He looked at the key, wanting to reach for it, unsure of if it was a trap.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"A friend of your family."

"We don't have friends, we have allies."

"We don't have time for questions." she hissed. " I have ten minutes before the locks go back up. Your brothers can only jam the system for so long."

He lunged forward, grabbing the key and instantly freeing himself from the handcuffs and chains on his feet. Then he jumped forward and lunged to her, pinning her against a wall and positioning the needle sharp key at her temple.

"One push and this goes into your brain, killing you instantly." he said.

Caroline tried to shrink away, but he had her pinned.

"I've been unable to move more than ten feet in any direction for many years. They've purposely dulled my strength in this place. I'm slow and weak compared to what I was before. And even then, my little brothers were always faster. You are no assassin if you can't even protect yourself from me."

He lowered the key and gripped it tightly.

"I'm keeping this. It's doubtful you can do anything to defend me if we encounter a problem."

"We have three sets of stairs to the garbage room." Caroline said. "We only have four minutes to get there and down the chute before the compactor starts."

"My brothers send an amateur to whisk me away through garbage?"

"Elijah said it lacked dignity, but Kol thought it was the best possible escape."

"Now we're down to three and a half minutes." Finn said. "Unless you'd prefer we both die in here?"

Caroline gave him a nod and ran. He followed.

* * *

Kol picked up a rotten potato and held it in front of his gun. The soft whiz of the bullet wasn't even loud enough to disturb the sea gulls feasting on the trash. He kicked the body of the trash collector out of the driver's seat and climbed up, pausing first to snatch up the man's hat.

* * *

Elijah followed the dot on the computer screen. It was dropping rapidly though the tunnels and chutes., but not fast ennough for his liking. It needed to pick up speed. He only had another minute before the compactors started again. Any more pause and their presence would be obvious to the control room.

"Come on." Elijah shouted, pounding on the desk. "Go!"

* * *

Klaus sat across from Esther. They both had drained their glasses of wine and Esther was pouring herself another.

"You took her." Klaus said. "You took her away."

"She'll probably be fine." Esther said.

"You hate her, don't you? You want something to happen to her."

"I don't love that you chose a council child."

"I should have been the one to make the call. You don't decide what she does."

"No, you do?" Esther shot back.

Klaus opened up his mouth to speak, but he snapped it back shut.

"A word of advice, my child." Esther said. "Unless you wish to end up like your father, you will have to let her do things that go beyond your control."

"What father?"

"He wasn't your blood, but he still raised you." she said. "He was your father. Not a good one, but he was the one you had."

"And the one I should have had?"

"You know Mikael killed him as soon as he knew who it was."

"You never told me who."

"I suppose I didn't want to disappoint you. Once you knew it wasn't Mikael, I could see you working stories in your mind. Great killers, dignitaries, royalty. I wanted you to think he could have been a king. Why would I take that from you?"

"Tell me now."

"What good would come of it?"

"I've always wanted to know. Tell me."

Esther smiled sadly. "He was a simple man, a poor man. But he was kind and strong and he loved me when I didn't feel very loved at all."

"How did you meet him?"

"Mikael reached out to him about exotic pets he bred. Mikael wanted to get a few for our family, and left me in charge of the selections. I ended up convincing him not to get such dangerous pets with Elijah in diapers and Finn hardly walking. We decided to get more horses instead."

"My father was a animal breeder?"

"Not very glamorous, is it?" She said. "I suppose I worried you wouldn't feel good about knowing you came from more common stock than your siblings."

"What kind of animals?"

Esther smiled. "You already know the answer to that, my son. I've told you all your life."

"Wolves." Klaus said.

"That's right." Esther said. "Your father was from a long line of Scandinavian wolf breeders. They could tame the wild beasts just enough, but never broke their spirit. It was a tradition in his family that went back to the Vikings."

"I'm a Viking?"

"You're a wolf." she said. "You're my wolf forever. And you are this family. No matter what blood runs through your veins."

"Wolves can't be truly domesticated." he said. "Not even by generations of Vikings."

"I like you wild. I raised you to be wild. We are not ordinary people and we do not care about ordinary people."

"She isn't ordinary, mother. She's everything. And you sent her into the hellfire."

"If she comes back, she'll come back one of us." Esther said.

"And if she doesn't? If you sent her to her death?"

"She made the choice for herself, my wolf. If you expect her to stay, you have to let her know she's not in a cage. Your kind don't beling in cages."

"My kind? She's nothing like me."

"My child, she is more like you than you realise. And the more time you spend together, the more each other you will become."

"I don't want her to have to be me."

"She's turning into a wolf. You can't tame her any more than I could have tamed you."

* * *

Caroline felt like her arm was about to rip from it's socket. She was holding on for dear life as she and Finn barreled down the pungent slimy chute.

There was complete darkness and she couldn't tell if the fumes from rotten food were actually choking her or if it was all in her head. The grease stuck to the sides of the waste chute like hardened plaque on an artery. It made them go faster and faster. She heard gears grind as the compactors slowly warmed back up. They were out of time.

A tiny white dot below got bigger and bigger. Caroline saw one set of metal teeth between her and the light. The metal groaned as it slowly came back to life.

Finn shouted out something she couldn't understand and yanked her closer as they barreled down the chute.

The metal teeth clicked. They met like a harrowing mouth, splitting chunks of garbage. Slowly they moved apart and let piles of trash through. Caroline watched them snap shut again.

She tried to map the time but it was all happening too quickly. She couldn't stop herself from sliding closer. They snapped shut right before her foot landed and she crashed over the closed spikes.

Finn exhaled, muttered some praise to their luck, and then the teeth opened again, sending them flying towards sunlight.

She heard them snap shut inches behind her head.

Then they were spilling out onto a trash heap. No, it was a truck. They were on the top of a trash truck.

Finn was shouting at her and waving his hands.

"What?"Caroline shouted back.

"I can't see." he replied.

He was squinting and panicking. It had been years since he was allowed a glimpse of sunlight. His eyes had grown used to the dark and now he couldn't process all the light.

She carefully put her hand on his arm and moved it down to hold his hand.

"I have you, you're ok."

Finn nodded, tensing up.

He didn't trust her.

The truck started moving.

"We need to hide." Caroline said.

They scurried under heaps of trash, and buried themselves just low enough below the surface to remain unseen.

The truck paused at a gate and someone looked over the contents.

"Alright, go 'head." someone grunted.

They drove for what felt like miles and finally stopped inside a warehouse.

The driver got out and jumped to the ground.

"Alright, you smelly bastards, let's go. No time to hose you off before we get in the air."

"Kol." Finn breathed. He held on tighter to Caroline's hand.

Kol stuck a hand out and pulled them out of the heap.

Finn looked like he had seen a ghost. "Brother. I can't believe. After all these years."

"No time." Kol reminded them. "We have to be in international territory before they notice your escape, or they'll shoot the plane down."

A door swung open and they hurried to another part of the hanger to jump on the plane.


	26. a brief note

Hello everyone!

So sorry for the extra long wait for the new chapter. I've been going though a lot of difficult stuff in my personal life for the past month or so, and it has made writing completely impossible. I'm trying really hard to get the next chapter of Prowl up, even with all that is going on.

I just want to say sorry for taking so long, thank you for sticking around, and that this story is not abandoned. It will be finished. Please be patient with me.


	27. Chapter 27

**Thank you all for waiting and staying with this story. The last few months have been very difficult for me, but I'm happy to finally be writing again. This will be the last chapter of prowl before the epilogue, and after that maybe I'll jump back into writing some Klaroline oneshots. **

* * *

Elijah was the first to speak.

"We've leveled out. You can take off the seatbelt."

They were the first words spoken since Caroline and Finn had scrambled aboard the plane, Kol at their heels. Kol had screamed at the pilot to get in the air immediately and everyone had been too tense to say a word.

Finn rested his hand on the buckle, blinking furiously. Even in the dim light of the cabin, he was having trouble seeing.

Jagged scars ran down his arms to blistered hands. His fingertips were raw pink and wet looking, and his skin was covered in burn marks.

Caroline had heard of prisoners who had been locked in solitary confinement for years going crazy. That they would set fires to their rooms using anything they could get their hands on, just to get a guard to pay attention. That they would sometimes go days in a room with no food and no running water. That the light could always be on or always be off. She wondered what Finn had endured, and if there was any way to fix it.

"Thank you." Finn said. He looked at Elijah first, then to the others. "I didn't know if you would ever come for me."

"We've only been waiting for the right moment." Elijah said. "We've never forgotten you."

"Is everyone... Are they...?" Finn trailed off.

"Alive. The whole family. Just as you left us, only older."

Finn smiled weakly.

"Sage?"

"She moved to Russia shortly after your imprisonment, needed to be near her mother and sisters. But she is well, and she still wears your ring."

"She hasn't moved on?"

"I thought she would have" Kol interjected. "Being that you were such a bore of a husband. But not, she didn't. She remained faithful all these years. I heard one of the Petrova brothers approached her a year or two ago, expressed an interest in taking her out, and she punched him square in the face. Her right hook laid him out cold."

Finn thought for a moment, imagining the scene.

"I taught her that." he said wistfully.

"I know." Elijah said. "I'll call her now, tell her to come to the compound."

"Don't tell her I'm out." Finn said. "I want it to be a surprise."

Elijah nodded. "I'll text her than. Tell her urgent business with mother at home. She always could tell from my tone when I was lying."

Finn watched Elijah type. He looked at the phone curiously. Caroline watched the whole scene in fascination, wondering if Finn had ever seen an iphone before. How long had he been away? How much had changed?

Finn was following Caroline with his eyes even as he talked to the others. She could tell he was waiting for her to leave so he could ask about her.

"I'm going to use the bathroom." she announced.

She walked down the hall and tried not to listen to the whispers, but it was too tempting. Finn didn't seem to have much concept of how loud his voice was anyway, so she could hear it all. His words seemed unbalanced, as if he hadn't spoken aloud in a long time.

"Who is the girl?"

"She's fine." Kol chided him.

"But why did you send in a stranger?"

"If it was as simple as one of us walking in, we would have come for you a long time ago. They have our photos and those of people known to be close to us."

"And she's not? Close to you?"

"She's new."

"New isn't safe, Elijah. She could have been with the Council for all you know."

Kol laughed.

"What?" Finn demanded.

"Oh nothing, nothing."

"No, it's just, well, you see... She is with the council, in a way."

There was a moment of silence. Caroline waited, her cheek pressed against the door of the tiny bathroom.

"Explain." Finn demanded, his voice dangerously calm.

Elijah told the whole story, at least as much as he knew of it. Finn grunted his disapproval, but didn't raise his voice.

"Niklaus doesn't do well with people. You know how mother was with him. She wanted to keep him feral."

"He's gotten better since you've been away."

"Are you sure trusting her is such a good idea?"

"Nik hasn't given us much of a choice. He's made his decision quite clear."

* * *

Esther had been pacing back and forth in her office for hours. Every time one of her children went on a dangerous mission it consumed her. And now two of her boys were across the world, saving a third. If they could manage. If it was even possible.

The plan was risky at best, but it was the only glimmer of hope that they had been able to hold for Finn in the longest time.

She picked up the family photo for the eighteenth time. Finn was a decade younger in this one. She wondered what he looked like now. If she would even know her own baby.

Rebekah opened the door and exchanged a serious look with her mother, then moved into the room.

Without words, Rebekah hugged her. At first Esther's back went stiff and she considered pushing the girl away. Reluctantly, she wrapped her arms around her daughter and they both cried silently.

* * *

Klaus had a dangerous look in his eye. The boy his sister had dragged back was useless. He looked Matt over with disgust. Completely common, nothing special. His build was strong, but he moved with the broad, quick paces of someone who had no agility, only stamina of someone who had been overworked for so long that they forgot what it felt like to be well rested. He looked the boy over as he sipped a cup of tea in the kitchen. The family only ate here when things were so grim that eating in the formal dining room felt like a mockery.

The boy would make a fine foot solider, he could do the rough work, but he didn't have the mind for anything complex.

Klaus wondered how long it would be before Bekah got bored with him or he got bored with Bekah. Two months, max. Three if they didn't live in the same place.

Matt moved his dishes to the sink carefully and turned on the faucet. Klaus watched with mild amusement as the boy picked up the soap and washed the dishes by hand, then dried them with a towel before setting them back in the cabinet they came from. Matt focused on a spot on the countertop and scrubbed away at it with a towel until he was satisfied. Then he moved on to straightening everything out. Klaus appreciated that the boy had a mind that liked to keep things straight and organized. It made sense to him as he watched Matt fix all the spice bottles so they were lined up neatly.

He decided that perhaps, Bekah could have done worse.

A guard snapped him out of his thoughts by appearing in front of him holding a phone.

"Hello?" Klaus asked.

"We've landed." Elijah said.

"And?"

"Finn is with us. He's fi- ... he will be fine."

"And Caroline?"

"Also fine."

"I swear, Elijah, if you ever again-"

"I won't"

"If you do-"

"I won't. Tell mother we're on our way."

Klaus got up and didn't bother to give Matt an explanation as he moved to his mother's office.

* * *

Rebekah saw the handle turn and nudged her mother. They were both perfectly still as Klaus entered the room.

"It'll be a half hour." he said, his voice hollow.

"Until?" Esther whispered.

"They'll be here."

"All of them?"

"Yes."

"Finn?"

"Yes."

Something shattered behind Esther's eyes. Her face broke and she nodded along dumbly as she groped for something to hold on to. Her hand found the side of her desk and she gripped it as she slid to the floor.

Rebekah didn't understand. She was too young to remember what her mother had looked like during her broken years. She had always been strong, for as long as Rebekah could remember. She hesitated as she moved closer to her mother, crouching down and crawling closer, as if her own mother was some wild creature. A hesitant hand on her shoulder caused Esther to relax and lean into her daughter. Rebekah looked up to Klaus and gave him a weak smile. He kept his post in the doorway. They would take care of each other as they waited.

* * *

Caroline followed behind the family. It was guards and the pilot, their group, then more guards. They were flanked by security even as they walked in.

She held her hand out to Finn again as they walked into the sunlight, but this time he turned it down. He fixed his eyes on Kol's shoulder in front of him, blinking furiously. His palms were spread out and slightly in front of him, ready if he should fall.

They followed the path and she watched each of them before her get swallowed up by the grand entrance of the Mikaelson manor.

When she stepped through the threshold she saw Rebekah's hair first. The pale blonde waving past as she wrapped her arm around Finn. Klaus watched nervously, holding his mother close. When Rebekah moved back, Esther brought her hand across Finn's forehead and down his cheek. He closed his eyes at the gesture, something resembling a good night ritual.

Klaus stepped forward and he exchanged an awkward handshake with Finn. They both looked as if they were hesitant to do more, or to saw anything. Perhaps there was some bad blood between them when Finn went away. Caroline made a note to figure it out later.

She watched as Klaus stepped a little too close to Kol as he scolded him, eyes darting to Elijah as he whispered a threat. She heard her own name come from his lips and moved from her spot behind one of the guards.

He froze when he saw her, eyes scanning her up and down, checking for signs of injury. His brow furrowed as he tried to work out the impossible relief he felt at her return. It wasn't good to feel this much. It wasn't good that he hadn't felt right until she returned.

If anyone had stood in the path between them he would have walked right through them. Caroline let out a surprised yelp when Klaus rushed towards her and scooped her up, holding her too tight.

"Never again. Don't you ever again." he pleaded.

"I won't. I won't. But your brother. We had to for your brother."

"You should have told me."

"If I did, you would have stopped me."

"Of course I would have. You don't have the training..."

"It worked."

"You could have been killed."

"Finn is here. I helped."

"If something happened to you..."

"Nothing happened."

"But what if something did?" he asked.

"It didn't" she reassured him.

Klaus pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. He took deep breaths into her hair and held on to her for a moment, reassuring himself that everything was fine.

Then he remembered Finn.

The rest of the family had surrounded Finn, overwhelming him with questions and offers to fix him something to eat or get him anything that would make him more comfortable.

Klaus stepped towards him.

Finn flinched.

The eldest Mikaelson brother hadn't lost the regal quality they all had, but there was something missing from him. He was so much a shell of a person. His skin was pale from years without sunlight, taking on a blue gray undertone where veins showed clearly through nearly transparent skin. He had smatterings of grey in his thick brown hair, and a patch near the back left of his head was sparse and scabbed, as if he had been picking at it.

He looked over his family as if they were a trap. They looked something like the people he left behind, but the years apart had made them blur and shift in his mind. Rebekah had changed the most. She was a little girl when he left. He only recognized the young woman in front of him by her voice. And her eyes. He remembered the eyes.

"They tortured you."

Klaus's voice hung heavy in the air.

Everyone else stayed silent. It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

Finn nodded curtly, acknowledging the long scars that now had eyes fixed on them.

"Some of it I did myself." he muttered.

"Why?" Kol asked.

Klaus glared at him.

Kol looked down at his feet and mumbled an apology.

"Let's not talk about that." Esther offered. "Your wife is on her way. Perhaps you'd like to wash up?"

"My Wife?" Finn said, his voice hollow. A small smile played on his lips, as if he had forgotten that he had a wife. Then something startled him and the smile disappeared.

"The baby." Finn whispered.

He cringed as soon as the words escaped his mouth, as if he hadn't meant to say it out loud. He looked fearfully around the room for evidence of the baby, but found none.

Caroline wondered what baby Finn was referring to.

Then the camera clicked. Finn's eyes went wide as he looked for the source of the sound that spooked him.

Henrick lowered the camera around his neck.

Finn tilted his head to the side and looked him over.

If Caroline had thought Henrick was a smaller version of Elijah, she hadn't looked closely at the old photos. He was most similar to Finn. They had the same lanky build, all long limbs and angles. They had the same high cheekbones and messy brown hair that fell forward more on one side of their face.

"Oh." Finn said. "Hello there."

"You don't look like your pictures." Henrik said.

"He just needs to eat some." Kol said. "Put some meat on those bones."

"Henrick? I can't believe. It's just.. You were four when I went away." Finn said. "I don't know how long it's been. The days and nights... sometimes it's hard to tell. How old are you now?"

"Fourteen" Henrick said.

Finn's eyes widened.

"Ten years?" he murmured.

He seemed to sway a little where he stood.

Elijah put an arm around his back.

"Perhaps a hot bath and a change of clothes?" Elijah offered.

Finn nodded and allowed himself to be lead down the hallway.

They all watched as Finn walked away. Each of them seemed to be thinking about what they would say to him.

Little by little they wandered off to check on things or do little tasks that would keep them busy for a while. Esther went to check on the car bringing Sage, Kol went to the kitchens to make sure Finns favorite foods were being cooked.

* * *

Caroline felt fingers lace with hers than a sharp tug as she was pulled into an empty room and pushed against a wall. The door clicked. Closed and locked.

Klaus kissed her roughly before she had a chance to make a noise.

"I'm still mad at you." he said, then moved his lips to her neck.

"That's my line." she hummed.

"Don't ver leave like that again."

"I thought you said I could go if I wanted."

"Not like that. Putting yourself in danger."

"There's always danger."

"You know what I mean."

"It got your brother back, didn't it?"

He took a step back and looked at her, considering something as he traced a lock of hair.

"Promise me. Don't de anything like this again."

"You're going to have to trust me."

"It's not you I don't trust, it's-"

"FINN!"

The loud voice from the other room made them both jump.

Caroline smiled and ran back to the grand foyer.

A redheaded woman was rushing down the stairs.

Finn stood in the foyer with Kol, he was wearing clean clothes and his hair was still damp. He looked slightly less grey, but still frail.

The woman, who must have been Sage, knocked Kol out of her way as she ran to Finn. She made him stumble back and fall to the floor as she threw herself at him. She kissed him over and over again, spurting nonsense words that must have meant something to him, because his face finally began to regain some color as he smiled.

She finally broke away to look around at the rest of the people in the room. Esther beamed, Kol rubbed his side, and Klaus and Caroline watched carefully from the corner.

"But how?" Sage asked.

"That one." Finn said, pointing to Caroline. "She pulled me out."

Sage got up and walked over to Caroline. She put her hands on her shoulders. "Whatever you want for, it's yours. I am forever in your debt."

"It's nothing, really." Caroline said, shaking her head.

"My life, my happiness, his? It's not nothing. You will have our protection and gratitude for the rest of your life. You have my word."

Caroline blushed out an awkward thanks, she was still getting used to all the grand gestures and formalities of this world.

"So what now?" Elijah said, walking back into the room/

Kol looked around. Rebekah and Henrik were making their way back over to them, followed by Katherine, Jeremy and Matt.

Finn gave a questioning look to the new people.

"New additions, I'll catch you up later." Kol offered. "It seems everyone's here. Let's eat. We've got a long night of celebratory drinking ahead of us."

* * *

Elijah was the one the message reached. A proposed meeting. It seemed like a trap. But then the photo came. Liz Forbes in the little tea room in the center of London. The one he liked so much because they had ten different varieties of Earl Grey and the nice little biscuits with the lemon. It was mostly locals, but occasionally would attract tourists who did their research.

She was smiling and holding up a cup of tea, as if she was an ordinary tourist posing for a vacation photo. Only a trained eye like his would notice that she was subtly holding up the top edge of the newspaper sitting on the table. The times with today's date.

So she wanted to meet in a public place and she appeared to be alone, or at least she wanted him to think that. She didn't request Caroline be at the meeting, which seemed odd for a hostage negotiation. She just asked to speak to one of the members of the family.

Elijah asked Caroline what she thought. If this was some trap. She said she didn't think so, but she had never been privy to the council's plans. He asked if she would prefer Klaus be the one to go, and she declined. Elijah was more reasonable, he would be more likely to keep a level head.

Elijah scanned the entire shop as he made his way to the table where Liz sat.

There were at least two men with her. Low ranking council members who he didn't know by their faces, but he could tell they were watching, ready to jump in if needed.

His own men surrounded the shop, waiting on a signal.

A waitress made her way over as he took the seat opposite Liz, but he waved her away.

"If you're here to negotiate your daughter's return, I'm afraid you've called on the wrong person. She's not being held against her will."

Liz nodded stiffly. "I know. I'm hoping... I hope it will help. That's not what I'm here for."

"Then what?"

"First, I have to know. Caroline. Is she... is she safe?"

"Of course."

"Is she happy?"

"I believe so."

Liz smiled. "I guess seeing her would be too much to ask?"

"We would have to take that up with Caroline. And make sure you weren't trying to take her back to the states against her will."

"I won't"

"We would need to be certain."

"I understand."

Elijah looked around at the eyes following their conversation. He was already growing bored.

"So if you aren't here to beg for Caroline's return, what is this all about?"

"I'm here on behalf of the council. I rank second now, and they wanted to send in a high ranking member so you would know how serious we are about this proposition."

"I thought Giuseppe Salvatore was second in command, and his son Damon was being groomed to lead."

"There have been some... rearrangements recently." Liz said hesitantly.

"Clearly. That wouldn't have to do with some recent deaths, now would it?" Elijah asked.

"The Salvatores don't hold the power they used to. The Lockwoods are in charge now, and I work directly under them."

"How interesting. The Lockwoods have a son, don't they? I wonder if he is being groomed to lead now that the Salvatore son is out of the way."

"You and I both know that Tyler isn't in Mystic Falls. And the Salvatores have a second son."

Elijah looked Liz over. She was a smart woman. she had already put the pieces together. She knew where Tyler really was, and she probably knew about the Gilberts as well.

"It seems we have more in common than we used to." Elijah said.

"That's why I'm here." Liz replied.

"Go on."

"I'm sure you've heard of Silias."

"That cult leader up in the Arctic? He's nothing. Dormant, practically."

"He used to be nothing. Until recently." Liz replied. She reached into her pocket and Elijah straightened up, unsure of what she would pull out. Across the street a sniper fixed a target on her.

Liz put a crumpled paper on the table. Elijah picked it up and looked over the symbol on it.

"This is from generations ago. The five split up back in the sixties. They've been too weak to matter ever since." Elijah scoffed.

"Until Silias united them." Liz said.

Elijah sat up straight. "You're lying."

"I'm afraid not."

"We'll do our own intel. Pardon me for not trusting your word."

"Do it. You'll see I'm telling the truth."

"How did your people find this before mine?"

"The five nations are in the same places they always were. But their North American location is much closer to us than their European location is to you. Even though they've been harmless ever since the split, we still keep a close eye."

"And you're sure they've reunited? The split was bloody on all sides. I can't fathom them being able to forgive and forget." Elijah said.

"That was before Silias. He's got a hold on them. He works his way into minds, making them all his disciples. They reunited for him. We don't know what they'll do for him next."

"This is inconvenient." Elijah said.

"It's more than inconvenient for us." Liz replied. "The Council can't fight your family and the Five at once."

"What are you suggesting?"

"A truce. temporarily. I'm suggesting that we turn our attention to the Five instead of each other, get rid of the common enemy before they get too powerful."

"My family will want to think this over."

"I'm sure it would benefit you just as much as us."

"Like I said, we'll think it over."

Liz nodded.

Elijah scanned the room.

"Are we done here?" he asked.

"Just one more thing." Liz said.

He waited.

"How is she?" she asked.

Elijah paused.

"She's fine, I believe she's happy." He said. "We're glad to have her."

Liz produced a letter.

It had Caroline's name on the envelope.

"Will you?" she asked.

"There's no way that's going through security unread." He said.

"I understand."

"I'll see that she gets it. So long as it's not something coded or otherwise dangerous."

"It's not."

"We'll make certain."

Liz watched Elijah tuck the letter into the inside pocket of his suit jacket.

She nodded, unable to bring herself to say thank you. Then she got up from the table and walked away. The men watching got up from their seats and followed her out.


End file.
